Far Eastern University (FEU) Tamaraw Booters faced a harsh wake-up call after surrendering a late 2-3 defeat against University of Santo Tomas (UST) Golden Booters in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 89 men’s football tournament earlier today, October 22, at the University of the Philippines Diliman Football Pitch in Quezon City.
Plagued by early set-piece missteps and playing a man down, assistant coach Viejay Frigillano stated that recurring defensive lapses prompted him to urge the players to stay focused through the final whistle.
“For this game, I tell the boys na we need to learn from this game against UST, kasi I know naman na kaya nila ‘yung UST (because I know they can handle UST). But we need to finish until the last whistle so that we can see the three points. Some of them, we need to push more para magising sa mentality of winning,” he said in a post-game interview with FEU Advocate.
The green-and-gold squad were caught off guard right out of the gate as a third minute deep free kick from UST’s Rodrigo Mariñas III took an unpredictable bounce off the pitch, skipping past goalie Quintin Sanchez and into the net to concede an early 0-1 deficit.
Just seven minutes later, before the Tamaraws could reorganize, Golden Booter Jan Baito struck from another free kick scenario leaving the Morayta booters trailing, 0-2.
Tensions flared midway through the opening half as physical play picked up, leading to a yellow card for Tamaraw centerback Francis Sambaan.
FEU’s persistent attacks finally broke through right before halftime when Diliman-turned-Morayta standout Theo Libarnes pounced on a loose ball in the box and slotted it through UST keeper Mark Daig’s legs to trim the gap, 1-2.
However, the celebration was cut short moments later when Sambaan received a red card, reducing FEU to 10 men right before the halftime whistle.
Despite playing at a disadvantage, the green-and-gold Booters refused to back down as a Libarnes pass threaded to Karl Absalon for an equalizer in the 48th minute-mark, 2-2.
Unfortunately, FEU’s comeback effort unraveled in the 90+2nd minute as UST’s Baito curled in a late brace and sank the Tamaraw booters, 2-3.
Addressing the team’s struggles, Frigillano cited an injury-depleted roster that forced heavy reliance on substitution rotations throughout the match.
“So far, this season kasi medyo nagkulang kami sa players — some of our players are injured, so that’s why we need to gamble our subs to go in. For this game against UST, I can say naman na the boys did everything kahit one man down kami, but kinulang pa rin kami (So far this season, we’ve been short on players — some of our players are injured, which is why we had to gamble with our substitutions. For this game against UST, I can say that the boys gave everything even though we were one man down, but we still came up short),” he shared.
With dead-ball defense remaining an issue for the team, the assistant tactician emphasized set-piece coverage as their primary focus in training moving forward.
“We need to improve more, especially [on] set pieces. Next game, i-improve na namin ‘yung set-pieces kasi mostly concede goal namin from the past games are set-pieces,” Frigillano noted.
Currently holding fifth in the standings with a 1-3-1 win-loss-draw record, the Tamaraw Booters turn their sights to their final round one match against Ateneo de Manila University on Sunday, October 24, at the same venue.
(Photo by Ma. Louela Luna/FEU Advocate)