STEPHAN Schrock said United City FC made an effort not to let up in its match against Maharlika Manila FC in the 2020 Philippines Football League (PFL) as a show of respect to the side led by Anton Del Rosario.
Schrock said he has huge respect for Maharlika Manila FC playing owner Anton Del Rosario, a former teammate with the Philippine Azkals, and the only way to show that is not to take his side lightly.
Schrock and Del Rosario had a friendly banter on social media in the lead-up to the match.
“I respect his work and giving opportunities to these boys,” said Schrock of Del Rosario after UCFC's 10-goal romp against Maharlika. “The best respect we can do is taking them seriously. As you see, we took them seriously.”
“The best way to respect the opponent is giving our all from 1 to 90 (minutes) and that’s what we did,” he added.
OJ Porteria and Robert Lopez Mendy scored hat tricks, with Schrock also tallying a goal during the lopsided match. The new club now leads the pack in the PFL bubble with nine points on a +17 goal difference.
Schrock also set up the first goal of the match with a lovely ball to Bienve Maranon that resulted in a score by Mike Ott that got the romp rolling.
“I’m not so interested in scoring. I get happy when I intercept the ball, and assisting before the assist. That makes me happy. I don’t care about scoring or opportunities. I want to create something for my team and that makes me happy. Everything is for the others,” said the Azkals skipper.
United City coach Frank Muescan said the no-nonsense attitude is the right mindset for the core of the now-defunct Ceres-Negros FC.
“If we can score more goals, magii-score talaga kami. Wala kaming slow down and we have to go all out when we play the game,” said Muescan.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph