Army rips Socceroo for share of lead in UFL

MANILA, Philippines – Army-General Trias International waylaid Team Socceroo, 4-0, to seize a share of the lead with powerhouse Loyola Meralco Sparks in the First Division of the United Football League 2014 at the Emperador Stadium.

Joining forces this year after some of the Army standouts are in duty or were discharged, the partnership immediately bore fruit and Team Socceroo, making its First Division debut after topping last year's Second Division, was just no match.

Korean Song Woo's imposing presence was felt early as he tapped in a goal 14 minutes into the duel, and Seok Jeon Shin followed up with a rocket of his own 10 minutes later from an impressive free kick to go into halftime with a 2-0 advantage.

Lauren Bedua then unloaded a smashing counter-attack and Nam Gi Won blasted home the fourth goal for Army-GTI that sealed the deal and sent it atop the heap alongside Phil Younghusband and the Sparks, who posted an identical 4-0 win against Global FC last Tuesday.

"Everything clicked and we hope to keep looking for the win in our next matches," said Army assistant coach Ricky Cain.

Team Socceroo fell to its second straight defeat after opening the season with a 0-2 defeat at the hands of former second division foe Pachanga Diliman last week.

In the only other match of the day, Green Archers United Globe leaned on Reynald Villareal's 70th minute goal to escape with a 1-1 draw against PSG.

It was the Globe-backed side's second straight deadlock after holding defending League champion Stallion FC to a 2-2 standoff in the inaugurals to move to fourth spot with two points, a point behind Loyola, Army-GTI and Pachanga Diliman.

Simon Bayemeg delivered the first goal of the match after he connected on a brilliant volley from way behind the box as PSG seized a 1-0 lead after the first half and what appeared like momentum going into the final 45 minutes.

The Archers would eventually own the second half, which Villareal highlighted with the equalizer.

"That was our worst start to a game," said GAU-Globe coach Rodolfo Alicante. "We had four or five players who were off today. In the second half we changed a lot of things and we played better."

Ill-timed second half substitutions proved disastrous for PSG.

"The manager (Essie Sedigh) made his substitutions, which jumbled our lineup and confused some of the players," said PSG coach Ayi Nii Aryee.