THE foreigners were better — but just barely — than the Filipinos on this night.
The Rest of the World team survived a late scare from the Philippine squad to hack out a 5-4 victory in the United Football League All-Star match on Saturday at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
Senegalese striker Robert Mendy of Green Archers United registered a hat-trick in the second half that gave his team enough cushion to negate a late rally.
Nate Burkey and Anton del Rosario conspired with two late goals in a span of four minutes to lead the Azkals-loaded Filipinos’ comeback that just fell short in the charity exhibition that marked the end of the first round of Division 1 competition.
The foreigners established a 5-2 cushion after two quick goals from Mendy starting in the 82nd minute, before the Filipinos retaliated with two of two of their own in the 86th and 90th minutes to set the stage for the thrilling finish.
The Filipinos actually took the early lead, 1-0, after a Misagh Bahadoran converted an OJ Porteria cross seven minutes into the match, before foreign
Negros Occidental, behind a hat-trick from Jinggoy Valmayor, earned bragging rights over fierce rival Iloilo with a 5-3 victory in the Western Visayas Classic earlier.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
