Sacapano’s stellar goal-tending helps Army hold Pachanga to scoreless draw

MANILA, Philippines – Eduard Sacapano showed superb goal-tending as a 10-man Army-General Trias International escaped with a scoreless draw against Pachanga PLDT Home Fibr to remain in the middle of the pack in the First Division of the United Football League at the Emperador Stadium Sunday night.

Down to 10 men after veteran and former Phl Azkals team member Roel Gener was tossed out for incurring a second yellow card on the 35th minute, Sacapano provided Army-GTI's defense with an iron curtain as he came through with four clutch saves.

Sacapano staved off attempts by Reza Amirkhizan twice on the 45th and 74th, Andrew Gerard Santiago on the 48th and Shayan Jafari on the 77th to save the Armymen from a potential defeat while eking out a draw.

The win gave Army-GTI a point to remain at No. 6 with 14, one ahead of the PLDT Home Fibr-bankrolled Pachanga with 13.

The draw also kept Army-GTI and Pachanga out of the bottom two, which were currently occupied by Team Socceroo and Pasargad with nine and four points, respectively.

The last place team in the First Division automatically gets demoted to the second group while the second to the last will need to beat the No. 3 in the Second Division to move up with the top tier teams.

The top 10 of the Second Division will be promoted to the top bracket along with powerhouse teams headed by Global FC, Loyola Meralco Sparks, LBC-backed Kaya, Stallion Gilligan's and Green Archers United-Globe with 37, 33, 30, 23 and 19 points.

Ceres-La Salle Bacolod paces the second group with 29 points followed by Kaya-supported Manila Jeepney FC (24), Air Force FC (22) and Laos (22).