FEU booters ward off Tigers, bag UAAP title

MANILA, Philippines - Far Eastern U bucked the absence of its key players as it pulled off a 1-0 victory over University of Santo Tomas to capture the 72nd UAAP men’s football crown at the Erenchun Field at the Ateneo campus yesterday.

After a scoreless first half, the 2008 champion Tams turned to freshman Dexter Chio who scored the game’s only goal in the 75th minute for the lead then held the Tigers scoreless the rest of the way to complete the big reversal.

“It’s a great championship game,” said Tamaraw mentor Rodolfo Alicante.

FEU missed the services of tournament’s best striker Jason Cordova in the crucial game because of one-game suspension after receiving two yellow cards in Game 1 last Thursday.

FEU survived Game 1 last Thursday, 1-0, to force the deciding game.

“It’s a big adjustment for us,” said the six-year FEU coach. “We changed our striker and Chio’s goal was very surprising because that’s a quick shot which we did not also expect.”      

It was a sorry loss for UST, which topped the elimination round with 8-0-2 win-loss-draw slate to gain the twice-to-beat edge.

Both teams drew seven yellow cards and one red card in the game.