All-MP United finals in FA Cup

It will be a family affair in the finals of the 2011 FA Challenge Cup with MP United Silver challenging the MP United U18 for the championship tomorrow at the Oleai Sports Complex Field.

MP United Silver and MP United U18 arranged their title showdown following separate semis wins last Wednesday night at the Oleai pitch. MP United Silver, which is composed of the club’s U15 players and is coached by Norman Del Rosario clobbered Matansa U18 in the second semis match, 7-0, while the Brad Ruszala-mentored MP United U18 thumped Paire U18 in the first pairing, 4-1. The all-MP United finals will be played at 2pm.

In the second semis match, MP United Silver’s Jehn Joyner missed his first attempt for a goal, but eventually found his target and finished with a hat-trick. Jake Lee also had three goals, while Ryota Ito contributed one in MP United Silver’s dominating victory.

Joyner attacked Matansa’s defense in the third minute, but overshot his mark. In his second attempt in the fifth minute, he beat Mayjohn Catindig in a footrace and made a cross. Matansa goalie Harrison Smith opted to go after Joyner instead of staying at his spot, but it was already too late, as the ball rolled toward the left post.

MP United Silver’s second goal came from Lee’s penalty kick in the 15th minute with Smith partially tapping the ball, but eventually losing it. Fifteen minutes later, Joyner got his second goal with Andrew Johnson starting the play off a penalty kick a few feet away from midcourt. Johnson hit the ball and it landed in front of Joyner near the penalty box and with Matansa’s defense yet to set the latter dribbled and made another cross for a 3-0 lead. MP United Silver eventually ended the first half with a 4-0 lead as a minute after Joyner’s second goal, Lee slipped past his defenders and drilled another goal.

MP United Silver could have scored more than four goals in the first half, as it aggressively attacked Matansa’ s defense, but Smith dove for several saves. Del Rosario’s wards dominated possession in the first half and on several occasions when Matansa managed to bring the ball to their side, Enrico Del Rosario, Kennedy Izuka, and John Taisacan were there to either kick the leather out or stole it from the opposing players.

In the second half, it took a while for MP United Silver to score again. The first goal in the final frame came in the 60th minute with Joyner receiving a pass from Angelo Jones, stopping the ball at the center of the penalty box, and then dribbling to his right before kicking the ball in against two defenders to complete the hat-trick.

Lee duplicated Joyner’s feat eight minutes later when he recovered a loose ball and tapped the ball. MP United Silver made two attempts in a bid to get its sixth goal, but Smith was there for the saves before Lee finally put it in as he lurked in the penalty area. Then three minutes before the second half ended, Ito broke into the scoreboard for the final tally.

Matansa almost lit up the scoreboard twice in the second half, but failed to get the breaks in the end. Frank Mettao made the first attempt, hitting a cross, but MP United Silver goalie Gregzon Fontanilla slid to his right and caught the ball. In Matansa’s second attempt, Antonio Bornilla eluded his defenders on the left side of the penalty area, but when he kicked the ball, he missed the leather and MP United Silver players picked up the loose ball.

In the first semis game, MP United U18 capitalized on a depleted Paire U18 crew for the easy win.

Paire played with only 10 players since Frankie Camacho was issued a red card off a net ball with MP United U18 on a scoring opportunity in the 11:21 mark of the first half. Paire had earlier lost goalie Don Cabrera, who was given a red card in their against MP United Blue last weekend.

With Paire missing one defender, MP United U18 took a 2-0 lead in the first half. Jin Han Yoo and Yi Shan Wang scored for MP United U18 in the 8:19 and 11:32 mark of the first half, respectively. Also making a goal for MP United U18 were Dae Min Jeon (65th) and Taek Han Yoon (77th), while Daniel Agulto was the lone player to score for Paire.