Men’s Open defending champions Hiroshi FC started its grandslam bid on the right note after blanking the University of Cebu (UC)/Nigeria, 3-0, in yesterday’s start of the Cebu Amateur Football Club’s (CAFC) 13th Cebu Interclub Football Cup at the Cebu City Sports Center (CCSC) and the Aboitiz Sports Field in Subangdaku, Mandaue City.
Hiroshi FC defeated Cebu Queen City United (CQCU) for two straight years to become the 2011 and 2012 champions.
Yesterday at the CCSC, the Nigerian manned UC squad proved no match for the defending champions with Folkhanes Antony finding the back of the net in the 38th minute.
Antony drilled in his second goal of the day just six minutes into the second half while Rodney Gandionco capped Hiroshi’s win with his goal in the 75th minute.
Despite the easy win, Team manager Frederick “Ktec” Alazas remains anxious about his team’s title chances this year. He said the team’s lineup is not the same as in the past two years. The team, however, has Joshua Fegidero, a former national team member, and players from the University of San Carlos and University of Southern Philippines Foundation Alumni.
USC coach Gary Panagsagan called the shots for Hiroshi FC.
UNFAIR SCHEDULING
Alazas, meanwhile, complained about the game schedules of his team, saying he finds it unfair.
All of Hiroshi FC’s matches have been scheduled in the morning with no rest day in between.
With 12 teams seeing action, organizers grouped them into two with six teams per group in the elimination stage. Each team will play five matches, one per day, with the top two teams in each bracket advancing to the crossover semifinals.
Alazas said he cannot help but feel that the scheduling favors the CQCU, a team owned by some members of the CAFC. He said that while all of his team’s matches are scheduled in the morning, CQCU’s are all in the afternoon except one. CQCU also gets a rest day after two games while Hiroshi gets its rest day after four matches.
Alazas said he has talked with CAFC president Greg Balsicas regarding this concern. He said Balsicas promised to look into it.
Balsicas, in a separate interview, said that he is going to talk to Alazas today.
He said it is not true that they are being unfair because they called for several coaches meeting, the last of which Hiroshi FC did not attend, to thresh out scheduling problems.
The CAFC president added that several teams, including CQCU, asked for a favor in their scheduling because some of them have jobs. They tried to accommodate all of them as much as possible.
He added that they had no hand in making the schedule as they hired referee Sherwin Rodriguez to handle this. They did this so they won’t be accused of being biased.
Other teams who barged into the win column in the Men’s Open were Samba FC, which outsmarted Mactan Camellanz, 4-2, ERCO FC, which completed a 7-3 spanking of Cebu Korea, CQCU, which thrashed Danao FC, 10-0, and CAFC, which edged Don Bosco United (DBU) FC, 3-2.
At the Aboitiz Sports Field, USC and Ateneo de Cebu (AdC) also opened their bids with flying colors in the Ladies Open.
USC routed Samba, 10-0, while AdC also blanked CTU, 4-0.
In the U13, BRO National, Mactan Camellanz, Phoenix and Talisay Razkals all won their respective matches while Cebu Dynamo, Lahug Elementary School, Canduman and AdC won in the U11.