TanHoldings FC delivers in shootout

MP United Football Club A’s Leo Takahashi, left, and TanHoldings FC’ Anthony Bergancia chase the ball during the first half of their title game in the Pacific Ocean Cup 9 held last Saturday at the Hopwood Middle School Field. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

TanHoldings Football Club outgunned MP United FC A in a penalty shootout, 3-1, to rule the Pacific Ocean Cup 9 held last Saturday at the Hopwood Middle School Field.

Mark Joseph Roque, Anthony Bergancia, and Ariel Narvaez converted their penalty kicks, while goalie Mark Chavez made a couple of saves to lift TanHoldings past host MP United A in the finals. Roque was the first to take a shot and made a looper to the upper left corner post and TanHoldings kept the 1-0 lead when Chavez tapped out a shot from Leo Takahashi.

Next up for the eventual champion was Bergancia and his shot rolled into the left corner for TanHoldings’ 2-0 advantage. MP United then cut the deficit to one when Evan Mendiola attempted and the ball banked on the front right post first before crossing over into the net, confusing the defense of Chavez.

A miss from Rizza Relucio, whose shot was way off to the right, kept the score at 2-1, while MP United muffed its chances to tie the match when Dev Bachani also made a wayward kick to the right. After the back-to-back misses, Narvaez broke the curse when he unloaded a shot and the ball rolled at the center pass the hands of MP United goalie Kristopher Pascual, giving TanHoldings cushion, 3-1.

Chavez went on to seal TanHoldings title win when he deflected a shot from Garett Weaver using his legs.

The TanHoldings-MP United A championship match was decided via shootout after Andrew Chung hit the game-tying goal off a pass from Weaver in the 34th minute or just a minute before the regulation ended (a five-minute stoppage time was added into the 30-minute finale). Earlier in the 32nd minute, Bergancia went for a long free kick and the ball went over the head of Pascual and into the goal, allowing TanHoldings to draw first blood before Chung made the equalizer.

TanHoldings and MP United A advanced to the finals after placing in the Top 2 in the round-robin elimination. The finalists earned similar 2-1-0 win-draw-loss record in the preliminary games, but TanHoldings took the top spot as it scored 4 goals in three games against the three of MP United A.

Kaithlynm Chavez made the lone goal in TanHoldings 1-0 triumph over the visiting Vivid Blue of Japan, while Narvaez had a pair and Roque added one in their 3-0 triumph over MP United B. TanHoldings engaged MP United A in a scoreless draw in their first duel.

MP United A, on the other hand, drew one goal apiece from Garett Weaver and Chung to beat Vivid Blue. Then against its sister team MP United B, MP United A won, thanks to Bachani’s shot.

MP United B had a chance to break into the win column in the elimination round when it led Vivid Blue, 1-0, off William Sosa’s goal in the seventh minute. However, Vivid Blue forced a draw when Haruto Suyama found the back of the net in the 18th minute. Preliminary games were played for 20 minutes.

With MP United B and Vivid Blue failing to win a single match in the elimination, they battled in the consolation game, which again ended in a tie after regulation, 1-1. Seongwon Cho scored the lone goal for MP United B in the fifth minute, while Kakeru Tomotaka knotted the count in the 25th minute.

To break the tie and determine the No. 3 finisher in the one-day tournament, MP United B and Vivid had a shootout with the former winning, 3-1.

Meanwhile, the top performers in the Pacific Ocean Cup 9 were recognized during the event’s brief awarding ceremony. Suyama, Chung, Sui Yi, and Roque were named MVPs for their respective teams, while Chung also took the Golden Boot award, sharing it with Narvaez, as the two players scored two goals apiece. Mark Chavez won the Golden Glove medal.