Loyola, Global stay on top

MANILA, Philippines -- Loyola Meralco Sparks and Global FC blanked their respective foes Saturday to remain as the top two teams in the First Division of the United Football League at the start of the second round at the Emperador Stadium.

Lee Joo Young's first half goal and Freddy Gonzales' second half brace proved key for Loyola as it walloped a tough Team Socceroo, 3-0, to hike its total to 23 points, which kept the Sparks at the helm for now.

Lee shattered the scoreless deadlock when he scored a goal past Guilherme Hasegawa with a minute left in the first half before Gonzales unloaded a double in the second half--one on the 55th minute and another on the 84th--to seal the deal for the Sparks.

"We played so much better in the second half with our quick passing, movement, we just pulled it together," said Gonzales, who scored both of his goals on crisp, clever passing by Korean Lee Won Hyung.

Misagh Bahadoran, for his part, broke the ice and then Mark Hartmann, Milad Behgandom and Jason de Jong came through with rockets of their own as Global crushed Green Archers United Globe, 4-0, to stay within one point behind Loyola with 22 points.

Global drew strength from a solid second half effort after the Globe-bankrolled Archers fought extra hard in the first half hour of the match that was only ended when Bahadoran blasted in a nifty cross from Hartmann.

That broke the will, the defense and later the hearts of the Archers, who could not stop Hartmann, Behgandom and de Jong from scoring a goal each.

"It was a great finish to a poor half, a moment of magic," said Global's Scottish coach Leigh Manson. "The problem was in the first half, we played as a group of individuals, we were making poor decisions and losing the ball far too cheaply.

"We talked about it at halftime and insisted on our players closing the middle down, and you saw the difference. Suddenly, we had bodies around the ball. When we won the ball, we had players we could pass to," he added.

Up by just a goal after the first half, GAU goalie Ivan Fraire made a spectacular save afetr he deflected a Bahadoran strike.

Unfortunately, it landed on the streaking Hartmann, who willingly tapped in the goal to make it a 2-0 edge.

With the match already settled, Behgandom and de Jong added insult to injury with the former heading home a goal from a corner kick and the latter scoring his first goal of the season after connecting on a beautiful pass from Izzeldin Elhabib less than a minute later.

In lone Second Division action, Ceres-La Salle slammed Agila, 4-1, to boost its stock.