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Maharlika Manila FC scored a great victory on matchday 2 of the Philippine Football League (PFL), while United City FC (UCFC) and Kaya FC continued their fight for the title with victories of their own on Saturday at the National Training Center in Carmona, Cavite. .
It was a historic day for the newly formed Maharlika after they achieved an unexpected result against Stallion Laguna FC, 2-1, at the start of the PFL morning.
The Biñan-based club took control of the match from the start, dominating possession over their counterparts for the first 45 minutes. Stallion finally broke through in the 28th minute via a punch from Ibrahim N’dour.
Maharlika got into the game more after the break and scored his first goal in club history courtesy of substitute José Montelibano in the 54th minute after the delivery of 19-year-old MJ Libre.
The Manileños continued to climb throughout the match and eventually stole the lead after Jeremy Theuer, another substitute, had an instant impact in the 75th minute.
Stallion fainted in the second half and couldn’t help but suffer a loss in their first meeting in the PFL bubble.
Maharlika head coach Roxy Dorlas was excited about the result and mentioned that her team approached the game with a sense of optimism after their previous match.
“I still have no words on how to express how happy I am with the team’s performance,” said Dorlas. “The players were getting into something positive in this game against Stallions, and you can see the result.”
Title favorites stay perfect
UCFC defeated Mendiola FC 1991, 6-0, in the midday game, while Kaya achieved a 1-0 result over the Azkals Development Team (ADT) in the last game of the day.
Welcome Marañón opened his PFL scoring account with a hat-trick in the first half, while López Mendy found the back of the net via a cross from Pika Minigeshi to take a 4-0 lead at halftime.
The attack continued into the second half, with Mike Ott and Mendy putting up two more to Mendiola to cap off a dominating 6-0 performance.
Kaya scored his second win at the expense of a greatly improved ADT at the late start, but failed to score more than one goal.
Kenshiro Daniels quickly pounced on a miscalculated header from Mar Diano and took on ADT goalkeeper Quincy Kaameraad one on one. Kaya’s attacker coolly placed a low shot into the lower right corner of the goal in the 15th minute and took the lead.
ADT fought the most veteran opposition, but was unable to consistently threaten Kaya’s goal. In the end, Iloilo’s representatives held onto the small lead to rack up maximum points after two outings.
The PFL resumes play Tuesday with ADT and Mendiola seeking their first competition points at 9 a.m., Kaya will face the Stallions challenge at 4:30 p.m. and United City will look to take down the high-flying Maharlika Manila FC in the 8:00 PM start.
