Far Eastern University (FEU) Booter Absalon sought for redemption following a 0-2 loss against the University of the Philippines (UP) Fighting Maroons in the University Athletics Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 86 men’s football tournament earlier today, April 25, held at the UP Diliman Football Pitch in Quezon City.

“Ang masasabi ko lang is sayang talaga, kasi ang daming kaming chances na hindi na-convert, pero ganyan talaga ‘yung laro eh. Ngayon, hindi para sa amin, pero babawi kami,” (All I can say is we missed our opportunity, because we had a lot of failed chances of converting goals, but that’s the game. It may not have been for us, but we’ll bounce back),” he said in an interview with FEU Advocate.

The Tamaraws were faced with a scrambled start to the match after a slimmed-down chance at defense as FEU Goalkeeper Mon Diansuy was immediately pulled out of the game due to a severe collision. 

It was not long until UP’s Ramil Bation III scored the first goal for the Diliman-based squad at the 13th minute, followed by another goal by Benjamin Palacio III at the 25th minute.

This evidently put pressure on the Morayta squad as they started to struggle offensively and miss several open shots in the first half.

The green-and-gold strikers eventually remained scoreless after failing to look for an opening toward the end of the match, ultimately handing the victory to the Diliman-Katipunan squad.

FEU is now at a 7-1-2 win-draw-loss record in the second round of the tournament and will face De La Salle University on Sunday, April 28, at the same venue.

-Kyle Beltran

(Photo by Zedrich Xylak Madrid/FEU Advocate)