Marikina trips Global Cebu

MANILA, Philippines -  Takumi Uesato rifled in four goals as JPV Marikina overpowered a short-handed Global Cebu FC, 5-2, yesterday in the lone Philippines Football League game at Rizal Memorial Stadium.

Pouncing on Global’s personnel woes that forced it to deploy Misagh Bahadoran as goalkeeper, Uesato completed a hat trick in the first 34 minutes to set the tone for the rout that hiked Marikina’s tally to 21 points.

Not done after scoring three, Uesato assisted Takeshi Odowara in a 1-2 play to help widen the gap to 4-0 at the 34th minute then got back into scoring position and rolled it past Bahadoran for a five-goal cushion.

New recruit Rufo Sanchez put Global into the scoresheet at the 63rd and Dennis Villanueva added a second with a header eight minutes before time to avert a shut out for the fancied side.

The Cebu-based squad, which remained at second with 28 points, took on Marikina two days after playing a game in the Singapore Cup, where it qualified for the semis stage.

Global badly missed first keeper Patrick Deyto who sat out the match due to accumulated yellow cards and its troubles at the position worsened when its second keeper didn’t get clearance from the Philippine Football Federation in time.

Skipper Bahadoran, who thrives on offense, was forced to man the sticks for Global this time and felt how opposing goalies usually feel whenever he’s inside the box.