The clash between the Pilipinas Dragons FC and University of the Philippines in the Copa Paulino Alcantara 2023 appeared to finish with a 1-1 draw, however, Marc Tobias found a winner at the first minute of stoppage time to lift his team to a valuable victory.
Tobias, UP’s team captain, ran down the middle of the penalty box and volleyed home the cross from the right wing to complete the come-from-behind win over the Dragons.
“Very unfortunate from us because we can see from first half to second half we were really pushing, but sometimes it happens in a game you lose the little focus you lose, the opponent can capitalize on it and that’s what happened to our center back,” said Dragons head coach Nii Aryee Ayi.
“But overall, very good performance because five of our starters from the last game weren’t able to.”
“We cannot risk for them to play so we have to see them out, the rest really stepped up and they had a good game, but congrats to UP for the last push.”
Looking ahead to their next match, Ayi stated that polishing their offense will be their main agenda, “We have to do more shooting practice, we have to take more shots.”
“If we take more shots on goal, I’m sure we could have got more than two goals.”
“We will go back to the drawing board and work on our mistakes and come back stronger,” said Ayi.
On the other hand, UP head coach Popoy Clarino also praised his players for fighting until the final whistle.
“Credit to the boys, they were very determined to improve nung first half kasi we played poorly, so in the second half, there was a small improvement, but credit to them for pushing it all the way.”
After finding an equalizer before the halftime whistle, Clarino shared that he and the coaching staff used the break to motivate their players and keep the momentum going.
“We reminded them para saan sila naglalaro? Para kanino sila naglalaro? kasi we’re very particular yung saluhan sa team.”
“Magkamali yung isa, saluhin namin yung pagkakamali niya so binalik lang namin sa kanila yun, ba’t sila naglalaro, ba’t sila nandito sa team.”
The latest triumph of UP puts the Diliman-based squad on top of Group B with 6 points and a +4 goal difference, while the Dragons remain at second with 3 points and a 0 goal difference.
Manila Digger FC is still at the bottom of the group with 0 points and a -4 goal difference.
Dynamic Herb Cebu FC and Maharlika Manila FC have yet to play a match in this tournament so far.
UP’s next assignment will be against Dynamic Herb Cebu on August 20, 3:00 PM, at the Dynamic Herb Sports Complex in Cebu City
The Dragons’ next game, meanwhile, will be on August 20, 5:00pm, at the Rizal Memorial Stadium versus Maharlika Manila.