Columbia, Palawan stay in hunt for semis seat

MANILA, Philippines - Davao Football Association’s Columbia FC and Palawan FA’s Palawan FC disposed of their respective rivals to stay in the hunt for the last semifinal berth in the Philippine Football Federation-Smart National Club Championship at the Bago City Sports Complex yesterday.

Edwin Giganto Jr. came through with a brace as Columbia trounced Zamboanga FA’s Alia FC, 5-1, while Palawan leaned on Adornis Torres’ double in beating Baguio FA’s Benguet State U, 4-1, to keep their semis hopes alive in the event sponsored by Smart and sanctioned by the PFF.

The two teams remained tied at second in Group A with six match points although the former enjoys a plus-one goal differential against the latter’s negative four.

But Columbia still has a match remaining on its schedule compared to Palawan but it will need a miracle to even draw, much more upset, a powerhouse Global team of Leyte FA, which took the top seeding in their bracket after scoring a whopping 32 goals and conceding just three.

If the Columbia booters wind up losing by five or less goals to Global, it will book the fourth and last spot in the semis.

A six-goal loss or more will mean Palawan FC advances in the event staking P100,000 purse to the winner.

Benguet State U, currently at fourth with three match points, likewise remains mathematically in semis contention if it could hurdle Alia FC by three goals or more and hope Global routs Columbia.

The No. 2 seed in Group A will battle defending champion Ceres-La Salle FC of host Negros Occidental FA, which emerged the No. 1 team in Group B after sweeping its group in three outings with 26 goals while conceding none.

Global has already arranged a semis showdown with a dangerous Flame United Cherifer FC of Cavite FA, which finished second in Group B with three match points.

Torres opened the scoring for Palawan on the 37th minute to go into halftime with a shaky 1-0 advantage.

An own goal by BSU’s Samuel Mendoza Jr. on the 51st made it a 2-0 lead before Palawan finished its foe off with goals by Torres and Marole Bungay VI that came three minutes apart starting on the 72nd.

Kachelei Levy delivered BSU’s first goal on the 80th but it turned out their last show of resistence as it couldn’t close the gap from there.

Columbia also had it easy after Jomar Aceda, Giganto and Joven Benitez scored a goal apiece on the eighth, 44th and 65th to erect a 3-0 edge.

Nassal Alawaddin kept Alia in the game as he struck with a magnificent rocket on the 83rd to cut it to just a two-goal deficit before Jeric Tamay and Giganto quashed whatever hopes of an upset left with the Zamboanga-based side.