Sun Palace, Kanoa down opponents

Matansa’s Gabriel Arkoh, left, and Amzad Khan, right, catch up on defense against a Kanoa player during their first round meeting in Division B of the M-League at the Hopwood Middle School Field. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Sun Palace and Matansa Football Club won their Division B matches in the M-League last Sunday at the Hopwood Middle School Field.

Sun Palace was pitted against Korean Football Association and notched a 3-1 victory to remain at the top half of the team standings in the division. Sun Palace has 6-1-4 win-draw-loss record for No. 4 in the rankings behind Shirley’s Football Club 1 (9-2-0), Shirley’s FC 2 (6-4-1), and Kanoa (6-2-3).

Qiwei Wang towed Sun Palace to its sixth win after knocking in a pair of goals with his first made in the 12th minute and the second in the 47th. Feng Yu hit the other goal for Sun Palace in the 46th minute, while Scott Kim handed KFAS its lone goal in the 26th. KFAS is at the No. 6 spot in the team standings in the eight-squad field with its 3-2-6 mark.

In the other game played last Sunday, Matansa outclassed Kanoa, 3-1.

Three different players scored for Matansa with Amzad Khan drawing first blood after converting a penalty kick in the 16th minute. Gabriel Arkoh made it a 2-0 advantage for Kanoa with his shot in the 32nd before Brian Lubao moved Kanoa within one with his goal five minutes later. However, Matansa got the one goal back, thanks to Kamrul Kamrul, who found the back of the net in the 53rd minute.

With the victory, Matansa improved its record to 4-3-4 and kept the No. 5 spot in the team standings.

Meanwhile, Shirley’s 2 and the Thundercats were also scheduled to play last weekend, but a no-show from the latter awarded the former the victory.

Shirley’s 2 will return to action this Sunday when it takes on Kanoa, while Shirley’s 1 is not done with its assignments this season as reported last week and is slated to face the Thundercats (1-2-8). However, Shirley’s, which will also meet Kanoa and Sun Palace in its last two matches, has zeroed in on the division championship as it is three wins ahead of Kanoa, Shirley’s 2, and Sun Palace. Shirley’s 1 is highly favored to prevail against the Thundercats and the victory in this weekend’s game will make the former’s claim to the division title official.

Two more matches will take place this Sunday with the CNMI Women’s National Team (1-0-10) battling KFAS at 3:15pm and Matansa colliding against Sun Palace at 5pm.