UAAP Football: Is it Ateneo’s year?

UAAP Season 79 Men’s Football 
UST vs NU
ADMU vs FEU 
1:45pm Thursday March 9, Moro Lorenzo Football Field
Telecast at 2:00 pm Friday, March 10 on ABS-CBN S+A

After 6 games, an unlikely team sits atop the UAAP standings. Ateneo has ridden a bumper crop of rookies and other young players to take pole position with one match left in the first round. See the standings here.

Coach Jaypee Merida sometimes starts as many as 6 rookies in his squad. Enzo Ceniza, Jordan Jarvis, keeper AJ Arcilla, William Grierson, Mark Nacional, Jimi Haosen, and Sam Lim all sport the shaved head that marks them as first-year players. 

One of his most senior players, captain Carlo Liay, is still recovering from a calf injury, meaning Jay-Ra Rocha has taken his place as the central man among the 3 centerbacks. 

None of this has fazed the team that has only allowed two goals all season long, against UE and UST. But complementing the ironclad defense is a prolific attack that has rocked opposing goal frames with 17 scores in 6 matches, 6 more than the next best side, UP. 

Three-pronged attack 

Ateneo’s marquee player is sophomore Jarvey Gayoso. The wide attacking threat has sporting pedigree on both sides of his family. His father is former PBA player Jayvee, and his maternal grandfather is Ed Ocampo, a legendary Ateneo basketball and football star. The upper college field in Ateneo is named after him. 

Gayoso is a serial box ticker. A Kiefer Ravena in cleats. He has scoring chops, as evidenced by his 5 goals this season. Amazingly he says he has 5 assists this season too. The kid displays a preternatural ability to outfox defenders with his mind as well as his feet. 

One unheralded but very important arrow in Gayoso’s quiver is his corner-taking. At the UAAP level many corner kicks are soft and high, necessitating Incredible Hulk-like neck muscles to power headers goalward. But Jarvey, (pronounced “Harvey”), has the technique to zip them in low and hard, so that center forwards need only to redirect the ball with power to beat goalies.

Gayoso is also internationally-sized and internationally-quick. He has played for our national U19 team and is definitely in the mix for the SEA Games. What he needs to work on is his physical strength (he is a bit reedy), and his right foot, which plays a distant second fiddle to his world-class left. 

But playing off Gayoso is Ceniza, who is an early favorite for Rookie of the Year honors. 

“Enzo has impressed me the most of all the rookies,” says Gayoso. “It’s difficult for a rookie to be in an intense position like his and he has handled it well enough to dominate against the teams in the middle.” 

Ceniza was a prodigy. He first started playing at the age of 4 and was in the youth national team system at the age of 13. He has won the Milo nationals twice as the tournament MVP. Ceniza is also the son of legendary Cebuano player and coach Mario Ceniza. No doubt all the football talk over the kitchen table has helped. 

“I try to follow my Dad’s playing style even though I never saw him play,” says Enzo with a laugh. 

“He just tells me the stories, like the way he dribbles and shoots, and his favorite moves. Like what goes inside his mind during that time.” 

“Ceniza doesn’t play like a rookie,” enthuses Coach Merida. “Kaya niyang sumabay sa mga 4^th and 5^th year students.” Merida says he first laid eyes on Ceniza during the Clear Dream Match a few years back, when Ceniza earned his spot after regional qualifying events. 

But there is yet another rookie making waves for the Blue and White. Colegio de San Agustin product Sam Lim has scored 3 times already this season, the same as Ceniza. But the best of those goals was this audacious overhead against UE.

Lim is following in the footsteps of that other CSA striker, Freddy Gonzalez, who starred for the national team in the early aughts. 

Unorthodox formation 

One of the big reasons for Ateneo’s success is their adoption of the 3-5-2 formation. While most teams employ 4 defenders, the 3-5-2 uses 3 centerbacks but relies on the fitness and skill of wide players, usually Jordan Jarvis and Carlitos Mathay, to track back and help out. Merida says that most of his squad have never played in this formation with the exception of Liay, who grew up in Italy. 

According to Merida, the team have studied footage of Serie A champs Juventus playing the 3-5-2. They also familiarized themselves with the formation in a preseason camp in Sagay, Negros Occidental last January. Former national team coach Norman Fegidero reportedly gave them some pointers too. Ateneo were good enough with the 3-5-2 to reach the final of the preseason Ang Liga competiton, where they fell to UST in the final, 1-0. 

That was a second finals loss in a row for the Blue Eagles, who were walloped 4-1 in the UAAP final last year by UP. This 2017 they are determined to do better in Season 79. 

“The team spirit is very strong,” asserts Ceniza. “When I asked Jayra (Rocha) about last year’s team, he said it’s different talaga, parang we are hungrier this season.” 

The Eagles will need to be hungry. Standing in their way on Thursday, March 9, will be an undefeated FEU squad that is thriving under a former Ateneo star, Vince Santos. But the Tams have dropped points of late, with consecutive draws against UP and UE. The status of Azkal Paolo Bugas is also of concern, as he has ankle issues.

It’s a long road towards the winning a first UAAP title since 2013. There are many obstacles. UP assistant coach Popoy Clarino still thinks the Maroons are the team to beat despite losing to their rivals across the street 1-0 thanks to a Ceniza goal.

Ateneo must rely not just on their weapons, but team ethos as well. 

“I believe it’s the ‘wolf pack’ mentality we have which drives the team towards winning,” adds Gayoso. “It’s a saying ‘for the strength of the wolf is the pack, and the strength of the pack is the wolf,’ so we take it as our idea that we play every single game as one.” – Rappler.com 

Follow Bob on Twitter @PassionateFanPH.