Aboitiz Football Cup enters crossover semifinal phase

THE heat will be on at the Aboitiz Sports Field in Subangdaku Mandaue today as the men’s under 19 (U19), boys 12 and players 10 enter the crossover semifinal round of the tournament.

University of San Carlos (USC), Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (SHS-AdC) C, Don Bosco Techonology Center (DBTC) and Abellana National School (ANS) Pomeroy hope to become the first-ever champions in the tournament’s men’s U19 category.

The champions will also form the core group of the Cebu Football Association (CFA) U19 team which will be representing Cebu in the Philippine Football Federation’s (PFF) U19 Visayas regional finals.

The U19 regionals will follow the Visayas leg of the PFF Suzuki Cup Under 23 Cup, which will kick off on March 18 in Dumaguete City .

USC, the Cebu Athletic Schools Foundation Inc. collegiate football champions, will vie for a finals ticket against the Magis Eagles’ team A this afternoon. Next weekend, ANS Pomeroy eyes the other finals ticket against DBTC.

USC has consistently topped bracket A with a total of 12 points after going unbeaten in the eliminations.

SHS-AdC A finished second best in bracket B with seven points after having won two matches and drawing one.

The Magis Eagles had squeaked past Don Bosco Boys Home (DBBH) to the second spot by virtue of its goal difference.

Both teams had seven points after finishing with the same 2-1-1 (win-loss-draw) record. SHS-AdC A edged out the Bosconians with its goal difference of 1. The Bosconians had -1.

In the Boys 12, DBTC will have a chance to take over the title vacated by Springdale FC as its team 1 goes up against Bright Academy in the first semifinals match.

The other semifinals match will see Canduman Dedon going up against Giuseppe FC.

In the Players 10, the Magis Eagles faces DBTC 5. However, DBTC 5 is on a collision course with its sister team DBTC 4, who has been cast in the other semifinals match against Bright Academy. /CORRESPONDENT MARS G. ALISON