A depleted Global side leaned on its newcomers to start its United Football League title defense on a bright note following a 2-0 triumph over PSG at the Rizal Memorial Stadium Tuesday night.
Niño Ochotorena and Ben Starosta emerged as the unlikely heroes for the powerhouse squad, which was without national team mainstays Patrick Reichelt, Jeff Christiaens, Marwin and Marvin Angeles, and Matt Uy.
Azkals teammates Carli de Murga and Denis Wolf were also nursing injuries.
The win gave the reigning champion three points to tie first game winner Loyola Meralco at the top.
“Hopefully we’ll have no more injuries. We’ve had our share of bad luck. So we have to give credit to those who were here,” Global coach Brian Reid said.
A defender for Global’s Division 2 team Laos, the 21-year-old Ochotorena made a rousing debut at midfield for the Division 1 champions as he scored off a cross from Misagh Bahadoran a minute into first-half stoppage time that gave his team the lead.
“Hindi ko inexpect na nilagay ako sa wing kasi sa Laos, defense talaga ako,” the Dipolog native said.
Starosta then doubled the lead in the second half with a header off a corner kick as PSG, coming off a finals stint in the Philippine Football Federation-Smart National Club Championship over the weekend, failed to mount a comeback.
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