Queen City storms into semifinals

CEBU, Philippines - Defending men's open champion Queen City United (QCU) FC inched closer to its back-to-back title bid after it thrashed the Avengers, 7-0, in the quarterfinals of the 16th Aboitiz Football Cup yesterday at the Aboitiz  Sports Field in Brgy. Subangdaku, Mandaue City.

QCU, still handled by Allan Medalle as coach Mario Ceniza is on leave,  cruised to a 2-0 lead at halftime behind the efforts of Madi Taniform and Aljohn Armamento, who knocked in successive goals at the 15th and 19th.

QCU wasn’t done yet from there, firing in five more goals to send the Avengers reeling at the end of the match. Niji Cyrille sank QCU’s first goal in the second half at the 54th.

 Seemingly powerless, the Avengers allowed three other QCU players to punch in a goal a minute after the other courtesy of Pintho Kabulo at the 64th, Dan Villarico at the 65th and Junard Aguilara at the 66th.

Johnny Davidson sealed QCU's wipeout of the Avengers at the 75th.

QCU, thus, set up a semifinal showdown with University of Cebu (UC)-BRO Nationals, which also advanced following a 5-0 whitewash of the San Roque Rehab.

The other men’s open semis duel pits Leylam FC against Samba FC.  Leylam booted out the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) Alumni, 3-0, while Samba progressed into the final round after ousting ERCO FC, 2-0. (FREEMAN)