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United City FC celebrates after ruling the Philippine Soccer League on Friday night. —PHOTO CONTRIBUTED
The club name may have changed, but the United City FC (UCFC) championship pedigree remains the same.
And just like it did before with Ceres-Negros, United City will go from ruling the country to challenging the best in Asia.
“It is good that even if we change direction we are still the best team in the Philippines and we have shown it again today,” said Spanish forward Bienve Marañón. “We wanted to keep that legacy of Ceres. Now we will have the opportunity to play against strong clubs from China, Japan, Korea, which we all look forward to next year ”.
That’s certainly the next goal after UCFC beat Stallion Laguna, 7-1, on Friday night to rule the Philippine Soccer League, giving the team a title that came with a ticket to the Champions League from the AFC.
Since 2018, the club had been knocking on the door in the main draw only to come up short in the final qualifying stage twice.
But right now, UCFC will spend time celebrating how it capped off a roller coaster year in the best way possible.
“The last few months have been very tough for everyone, but you have to give credit to the players and the management for being here and continuing to maintain that winning mentality,” said captain Stephan Schrock.
When COVID-19 began to cover the country, soccer patron Leo Rey Yanson ceded ownership of the club to Dubai-based marketing firm MMC Sportz, which retained 16 players from the team.
That decision paid off at the PFF National Training Center, the Carmona field, Cavite province, which hosted the tournament.
With a 2-1 lead at halftime, UCFC burned their foes in the final 45 minutes with Marañón firing a hat trick and standouts Mike Ott and OJ Porteria on the roster.
Ott scored on a pass from Marañón in the 11th minute, but Stallion tied the game up after UCFC conceded for the first time in four games in the competition while forward Ibrahim Ndour, on a fast break, was simply unstoppable.
But Takashi Odawara headed home from the second post later to put UCFC forward for good.
Marañón, whose application for naturalization has been filed in Congress, then pitched the second half to increase his goal count to seven leaders in the tournament.
The victory means that UCFC will have little at stake when they face Kaya FC Iloilo on Monday. For Kaya, however, the match is very important, with an AFC Champions League playoff spot still up for grabs for the second setter.
Kaya was supposed to be UCFC’s biggest hurdle to the crown, but he failed in his attempt to turn Monday into a me-or-you showdown when he was led to a draw by the unknown Mendiola FC in an earlier match.
“When we found out about Kaya’s result, we wanted to seal him (win against Stallion),” said UCFC coach Francis Muescan.
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