2011 UFL Cup Finals: The old guard are champs!

by rick olivares

They are the old guard. Fighting not just for homegrown pride but also to stem back the tide of change. The men of Air Force after lifting the 2011 UFL Cup might say that they are a team of destiny.

Denied at full time’s door last year by Global, they got their revenge by ousting the same team in the semifinals of this year’s cup. Global, after all, is the vanguard of change in Philippine football – a team stacked with national players of foreign lineage, the best home grown talent, and the best African players around.

And there’s that saying that cropped up during the most recent Pacquiao-Marquez fight – to be the champion, you have to defeat the champion.

Scratch Global from that list.

And finally, there was Loyola in their way. Or maybe, they were in the way of Loyola.

Using military parlance, Air Force, after seizing an early goal, withstood a relentless barrage of shots from a team that has the league’s most potent attack. And in true military fashion, it was as if Air Force’s defenders were throwing themselves on top of grenades, howitzers, lasers, and point blank shots. As great as the defense was, Air Force goalkeeper Edmundo Mercado Jr. was superb at goal turning back one of the most fearsome strikers in the game today in Phil Younghusband. Mercado, a former national player himself, stopped shot after shot and jawed some with the Younghusband and Mark Hartmann.
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Posted in: UFL CUP