Pasargad, Socceroo play to 1-1 draw

MANILA, Philippines – Pasargad eked out a 1-1 standoff with Team Socceroo to keep its chance of avoiding relegation from the First Division of the United Football League at the Emperador Stadium in Taguig Tuesday night.

Jerome Cuyos opened the scoring to give Pasargad the early lead, but Lee Jeong Woo came through with a goal off a penalty awarded after Martin Wiedmar touched the ball inside the box to escape with a draw.

Pasargad had a chance to make it a 2-0 advantage when it appeared that it should have been awarded a penalty kick after Antonio Bonoan recklessly tackled Simon Bayemeg inside the penalty box.

Bonoan though escaped unpenalized, allowing Team Socceroo to avert what could have been a match-deciding call.

"No, first time in my football career," said Socceroo coach Franklin Cacacho regarding his opinion about the incident. "We thank the Lord for not giving that penalty," he later quipped.

"I think we were the favorites in this game. You can see with the chances we got. In the first few seconds [of the game] they had clear chances, but after that we dominated the game. I don't know what kind of call that was, we had a clear penalty," Pasargad mentor Ayi Aryee, for his part, said.

The match though was not without some anxious moments though as Pasargad keeper Arnie William Nsangou and Socceroo playmaker Park Yi Young were sent off on separate occasions.

Nsangou was assessed a straight red card for hitting Diego Barrera’s head after the former attempted to punt the ball clear while Park followed suit when he was also slapped a red for throwing a strike after taking he couldn’t stand Pasargad’s physical play.

None though could take advantage of it.

Pasargad remained at the bottom with five points, five behind Socceroo with 10.

Pasargad will have seven games to overhaul Socceroo’s edge for the former to avoid being relegated to the Second Division.

"I think it favors my team," said Cacacho.

"1-1 is not a bad result for both teams, but maybe it's not so good for us because we really needed the three points. The gap is still the same. We just need to prepare for our next game," said Aryee.