MP United wins M-League Cup

MP United Football Club and Inter Godfather’s players exchange high-fives before starting their game for the M-League Cup last Sunday night at the Oleai Sports Complex Field. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

MP United Football Club took the M-League Cup after nosing out Inter Godfather’s in a penalty shootout, 4-3, last Sunday night at the Oleai Sports Complex Field.

John Diego Masga, Jireh Yobech, Raymond Mercado, and Joe Miller scored for MP United in the shootout. Jehn Joyner had the lone miss for the club in the shootout but his goal late in the second half extended the game, which went into two overtimes before the Norman Del Rosario-mentored squad finally ended the tight match in the shootout.

Joyner drilled the equalizer in the 79th minute off a scramble inside the box after Joe Miller’s free kick went short. Joyner battled for the ball against three other Inter Godfather’s players and won with the MP United forward converting a full volley shot. Earlier in the first half, Semisi Betevua put Inter Godfather’s on the board with his 21st minute goal.

Despite falling behind in the first half, Del Rosario said his players kept their composure and patiently waited for their turn to score.

“During the halftime break, I told the boys that we’ve been to this kind of situation a lot of times and like what we did in the past, we just need to shake it off and focus on the game plan, which was to create a build up and patiently wait for the right time to attack and go for a goal,” Del Rosario said.

The right time came past the halfway mark of the second half with Joyner seeing daylight as he knocked the ball in after multiple players fought for possession in the box. After Joyner evened up the match, MP United had many chances to wrap the game in overtime, but it could not capitalize on these breaks. The closest the squad could get was when Zhi Pheng Lin attempted a shot in the second 10-minute overtime, but the ball hit the cross bar.

With the missed opportunities in regulation and two extended periods, MP United had to challenge the then unbeaten Inter Godfather’s to a shootout.

Inter attempted first with young gun Ryu Tanzawa scoring a quick shot against MP United goalkeeper Chris Aninzo. John Diego Masga also hit his mark, thanks to Evan Hunsberger’s butterfingers. The Inter Godfather’s goalie dove for the save and had a hand on the ball when he fell on the ground, but eventually lost it, allowing Masga to even up the count.

Ropati Tonuu made the second attempt for Inter Godfather’s, but his shot was way over the center post, while Hunsberger redeemed himself from an earlier fumble when he caught the ball off Joyner’s kick to keep the deadlock. A Nigel Leahy conversion broke the standoff, but Yobech tied it anew.

Next up for Inter Godfather’s was Suguru Takahashi and he faltered, as his shot way wide to the left (goalie’s right), while Mercado knocked the ball in on the other side to give MP United the upper hand. Shunji Nagayasu drilled the last shot for Inter Godfather’s to force another standoff and put Miller in the spotlight.

Miller, who made repeated attempts to score in regulation and in the two overtimes but had no success with the ball mostly going over the post, delivered this time as he converted a left top corner shot to hand MP United the Cup.

MP United clinched the Cup by winning all three games in the tournament. In first defeated Paire Football Club, 3-0, and then stunned the second-running Wild Bill’s in the semis, 3-0, before another upset in the finale against the Division 1 leader Inter Godfather’s.

Asked what helped MP United win the Cup against the two-highest seeded teams, Del Rosario pointed to the presence of young players on their roster and their understanding of their role on the squad.

“We’ve been playing good football this season as we have players who may be young, but understand well their role on the team. Our young players can create problems to older teams as we use their speed and non-stop ball passing to create scoring opportunities,” Del Rosario said.