Far Eastern University (FEU) bounced back from a three game winless slump in blistering fashion, annihilating U-belt archrival University of the East (UE), 8-0, to surge to third place in the UAAP men’s football tournament Sunday evening at the University of the Philippines (UP) Football Stadium.
Playmaker extraordinaire Gio Pabualan played a game of a lifetime, scoring a brace and issuing three assists to pace the Tamaraws past the Red Warriors’ lethargic defense.
Off a set piece, Pabualan issued a lob pass from the top left corner for an RJ Pescadera header goal in the 14th minute to start FEU’s scoring rampage.
A long 19 minutes later, Pabualan shined again from the same spot, this time issuing a free kick toward the head of center back Mel Baylon for another header.
Pabualan then targeted the head of Baylon’s back third partner Viejay Frigillano to end the first with a dominant lead.
Despite early attempts by UE to aggressively attack their final third, FEU turned the tide and sizzled on their offensive end, scoring four goals from the 51st to 60th minute for the biggest win by any men’s team in Season 85.
During that stretch, Pabualan scored a brace from counterattacking strikes in the 52nd and 59th minute while Geri Rey and Stephen Soria scored from quick, one-touch buildups inside the penalty area.
Pint-sized winger Karl Absalon kicked the finishing goal from 20 yards in the 72nd minute.
“It’s good to finally have conversions on the number of attempts we’ve created today,” said coach FEU coach Vince Santos about their game plan against UE.
“I think that’s been the difference the past two games. We’ve had the chances, a lot of sorry misses, and we focused on this coming into the game. Just happy for the boys today,” he added.
“We need to score, we need to win, yun ang focus namin today,” Pabualan said for his part.
With the win, FEU improved their rank at third place, matching UE’s tournament score of 15 points with an identical four wins, three draws, and two losses but with a +16 goal difference over the Red Warriors.
The Red Warriors, undefeated in the first round, has dropped their second match in the second round.
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