By Cedelf P. Tupas
Philippine Daily Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines—Defending champion Global FC summoned its old, ruthless form to blank Army, 3-0, Saturday night and reach the quarterfinals of the United Football League at the University of Makati pitch.
Homeless World Cup veteran Janrick Soriano struck twice in the second half, after Izo El-Habbib opened the scoring for Global, which struggled in the group stage.
Global, which squeezed into the knockout stage as one of the two wild cards, will take on the winner between Pachanga and Navy for a place in the semifinals.
Stallion FC also booked its place in the last eight with a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Diliman Victory Liner FC in the first game.
Lee Joo-young and Vince Braga scored for Stallions, who will take on either top seed Loyola Meralco Sparks or Sunken Garden United.
Young, one of five Koreans playing for Stallions, equalized in the 32nd minute, before the Iloilo-born Braga gave them the lead a minute into first-half injury time.
Army came into the game as the No. 2 seed. But they rammed into a rejuvenated Global side handled by Australian coach Graeme MacKinnon.
Global took the lead 20 minutes into the game when El-Habbib directed a long free kick from Yu Hoshide into the goal.
Jeff Christiaens made his debut for Global and the Fil-Belgian winger, who starred in the Southeast Asian Games, made an instant impact with his playmaking, setting up the second goal for Soriano in the 53rd minute.
Soriano grabbed his second in the 69th, chipping past Eduard Sacapano after a quick restart that caught the Army napping.
Fil-Spanish striker Angel Aldeguer, still nursing a stress fracture on his ankle, played the last 21 minutes and nearly scored with a header off a corner kick.
inquirer.net
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