Pachanga holds off Airmen to reach UFL Cup Finals

MANILA, Philippines – And the clock struck midnight.

A determined Pachanga Diliman FC side secured the last slot in the finals after ending Philippine Air Force FC’s Cinderella run in extra time, 3-2, in the United Football League Cup semifinals Tuesday, December 3 at the Emperador Stadium in Taguig City.

Reza Amirkhizan once again displayed his prowess from the set piece as he sniped in the winning goal deep in extra time to send Pachanga to the Finals against the searing Loyola Meralco Sparks.

After surprising many by reaching this year’s Cup’s Final Four, the Airmen looked poised for a Finals rematch with the Sparks as Ian Araneta headed in the first goal of the game in the 25th minute but PDFC only took 4 minutes to restore parity after Nate Burkey banked in the equalizer from the penalty spot.

The former Division II champions Pachanga Diliman, wanting to prevent the game from going into extra time, then rained a barrage of shots on Kenneth Dolloso but the feisty Air Force keeper remained tough, foiling every attempt to keep the score level throughout the second half.

“I wanted the game to be settled within regulation because knowing Air Force, they are tough and used to playing extended games,” said PDFC coach Noel Marcaida.

“I just told my boys three things: they should be consistent, patient, and they should have faith,” Marcaida added.

Pachanga’s effort was finally rewarded immediately after the restart as Ariel Zerrudo caught the Air Force defense asleep to punch in his second goal in as many games 91 minutes into the match.

But The Airmen leveled the game anew when Jezurel Tonog found the net in the 95th minute following a goalmouth scramble.

With both squads looking to settle the match without going to a shootout, things got scrappy as players from both sides traded nonsense, prompting the referee to pull out 8 yellow cards and a straight red throughout the game.

Pachanga was dealt their biggest blow of the night when Burkey was slapped with two yellow cards in a span of 3 minutes – the first one by leaving the playing field without the referee’s consent in 106’ and the crucial second after swapping hits with Joel Ballo-Allo – causing the hardworking forward to miss out their Finals match. Ballo-Allo consequently was shown a straight red card.

With the clock ticking away and both teams down to ten men, there was no Jimmy Vergara to save the day for Air Force once more and instead, it was Amirkhizan who struck in the winning shot that magnificently went to the top-right corner of the goal, 8 minutes from time.

By eliminating the Airmen in the championship contention, Pachanga Diliman and Loyola will battle for the UFL Cup silverware on Thursday, December 6, still at the Emperador Stadium. Air Force and Green Archers United will battle for third in the night’s curtain-raiser.

“We don’t have much time to prepare for the Finals. I guess we will just have to adjust against Loyola,” Marcaida said. – Rappler.com