Palaro football champs Mimaropa advances to semis with Western Visayas win

LAGUNA, Philippines – And the title defense is still on.

Mimaropa denied Western Visayas of their long-awaited finals return as they ran away as 2-0 winners in the Palarong Pambansa secondary football competition, Thursday, May 8, at the Laguna State Polytechnic University.

An own goal from Paul Bennil and a 60^th minute header from Ramil Feliciano propelled Mimaropa back to the Final Four as Western Visayas wraps up another disappointing campaign despite having some of the best football talents in their region.

In a battle between the Palaro champions and the country’s football hotbed, the Palawan-based booters came out on top after displaying hard-nosed defending that set the stage for Mimaropa in what could be the most anticipated matchup in this year’s tournament. 

Mimaropa got ahead in the 25^th minute as their constant terrorizing of Western Visayas’s flanks was rewarded with a 25^th minute own goal from Bennil. 

With Western Visayas sending their manpower up front in search for an equalizer, Feliciano put the icing on the cake for Mimaropa as he headed in Portigo’s cross in the hour mark that formalized their return to the Palaro semifinals.

“I just told them to focus and trust God to win this match. I was a bit worried coming into this game since we never played them before but our hardwork gave us the win,” Mimaropa mentor Michael Salmo said.

With their title-defense on the line, Mimaropa, however, is taking one step at a time.

“Of course we have that crown in our target but we’ll take this one at a time,” added Salmo. 

Mimaropa swept their elimination round with a 1-nil win over Bicol Region, 3-2 squeaker over Caraga, and a big 7-2 thumping of Northern Mindanao.

The then-Romblon represented Mimaropa completed a Cinderella campaign last year after they edged Central Visayas in Dumaguete for the 2013 Palaro crown that was decided by a nerve-wracking penalty shootout. – Rappler.com