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In Philippine football’s best rivalry, the Fighting Maroons bested archrivals FEU in extra time, 2-1. There is much to unpack.
Monday night football was special this week, as UP came from behind to crown themselves the best team in UAAP Season 88 men’s football. After Karl Absalon’s first half header, Charles Lobitania equalized deep in second half stoppage time for the Maroons. Here are my talking points on a fitting end to another great season.
UP-FEU is the best rivalry in Philippine football today
These two programs represent the pinnacle of university football in the country, and have done so for quite a long time now. In the last 19 seasons they have won all but three of the titles in this division, with Ateneo taking the rest.
Both are established, well-run, well-coached programs that have solid recruiting. They have alternated as champs the last two years. There are intertwined back stories too. Charles Lobitania, the UP skipper who buried the tying penalty deep in second-half stoppage, came from FEU’s vaunted high school team. He becomes the second former FEU’s high school player to skipper UP to the crown, with Macky Tobias being the other.
UP-FEU is the Ateneo-DLSU of football and the fixture should be cherished and celebrated as a great Filipino football derby, especially after last night’s installment.
Kaya FC used to have a nice derby with Ceres until that club disappeared. Now there are a few clubs like One Taguig and Manila Diggers challenging them for PFL dominance. But none of these rivalries have the history of UP-FEU at the moment. This fixture should be a red-letter day for every Filipino football fan.
Ramil Bation and Mon Diansuy stood out
Ramil Bation is UP’s speedy and technically gifted striker. Throughout his UAAP career he has found the back of the net countless times. But I noticed that in big postseason matches early in his career, he fired blanks. That all changed in Season 88.
In the semifinal he speared in the free kick winner against the Archers that will live for eternity in UP footballing lore.
And on Monday he turned in Kendrick Saludez’s excellent cross to seal the crown. He is a true big-game striker now.
Bation is right up there with FEU’s Nickos Mamon as UAAP’s finest strikers. Sadly the Tam was suspended for the game on accumulated yellows.
Mon Diansuy, the Tamaraw goalie, had a career game. The Cotabato City native had several fine stops, and his poise and bravery in coming out to punch the ball away or gather it in dangerous situations was commendable. He was denied a third UAAP title by Bation’s goal, which he actually got digits to but could not keep out.
Diansuy could be another Pat Deyto. I would love to see him turn pro, cut his teeth in the PFL, get a good agent, and go abroad. He is a decent international size and might just make an impact in Southeast Asia.
It will be good to mention Kendrick Saludez as well. Moments after he was introduced into the game at the left flank in the second half the UP wide man provided an incisive ball into the box. In stoppage time he exploited a moment of disorganization in the Tams defense to latch on to a Josh Merino pass and dish to a streaking Bation. Impact sub indeed.
This game shows the importance of league football
Philippine football is too much centered on national teams. In reality, the lifeblood of the game in all footballing nations are the leagues. You can see teams and stars play week-in and week-out instead of just a few times a year. National team matches are occasional diversions in most proper footballing countries.
UAAP football is a competitive, keenly contested spectacle that has grown in quality tremendously over the years. Although FEU and UP dominate, there is lots of unpredictability over the course of the season, as evidenced by DLSU’s surprise semifinal run, and UST forcing defending champs FEU into a rubber match. The potential fan base is massive thanks to the alumni of all the schools.
I am hoping that the PFL changes its foreigner limit, which I am told is five plus one goalkeeper, to force clubs to recruit top UAAP talent. If it were up to me there would be just three foreigners, with one coming from ASEAN. I would love to see a day when Filipino pro clubs really fight over the best of the UAAP graduates, which could inflate salaries and inspire more young kids to dream of going pro.
Should FIFA and IFAB change the way it times football games?
I was sitting in the FEU side of the grandstand when the fourth official showed nine minutes of stoppage time on his sign board. Clinging on to a precarious 1-0 lead, the FEU coaches complained. Sure enough, at the very end of that added time, FEU fouled Florenz Tacardon in the box, Lobitania scored from twelve yards out, and extra time ensued.
In the semifinal UP also got a late free kick that Bation converted very deep in stoppage time to win the game 1-0. The length of added time was bitterly disputed by De La Salle.
The way I see it, having the referee be the timekeeper of a football game is an anachronism, and can be dispensed with. I would rather have a clock that winds down to zero like in basketball. If this is instituted, debates like this can be legislated out of the game, and the referee can focus on all the other things he needs to worry about in a match.
Studies show that there are actually only about 60 minutes of actual play in a 90-minute football game. I would suggest a 35- or 40-minute clock per half that winds down to zero and only stops for free kicks and injuries. Throw-ins and corner kicks perhaps can take place while the clock runs. And maybe once the clock reaches zero the game continues until the ball goes out of bounds, just to give the chasing team one last chance.
The International Football Association Board is the body that determines the laws of the game. It would be great if they could test countdown timing in a youth tournament. They have done this in the past with other proposed rule changes.
FIFA already uses countdown timing in futsal, the five-a-side variety of the sport, and in beach soccer. It would be a big shift, but I think it’s time to bring this to the eleven-a-side game as well.
Images from UAAP Media Bureau.
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