THE United Football League comes down to probably the most important game of the season as heavyweights Stallion-Sta. Lucia and defending champion Global collide on Tuesday at the Emperador Stadium in Taguig.
The 7:30 p.m. encounter is expected to come down as an all-out war between the two clubs whose outcome could either make or break their respective championship aspirations.
League-leading Stallions have 42 points to show with still three games remaining, five points ahead of second-running Global which nonetheless has a game in hand.
A victory would go a long way in their bid to dethrone Global as champions in the top flight.
Global, however, welcomes the return from suspension of Izzo El-Habib, the same Sudanese striker who scored the winner in the two teams’ only encounter this season - 1-0 Global victory.
Stallions coach Ernie Nierras also marks his return from the Asian Football Confederation Asian Cup Qualifiers campaign in Bangladesh where he coached the national women’s team to a bridesmaid finish.
Global owner Dan Palami stressed the importance of the match, but refused to view it as a virtual championship decider.
“It will be less pressure for us in the next games. And we put our fate into our own hands and not into the hands of how they (Stallion) play in their own games,” Palami said.
“(But) we still have games after that and it will be against tough teams like Loyola and Kaya. We can never discount them,” Palami added. “Even if Loyola is statistically almost out of the title race, they will always be a very dangerous team as well as Kaya, who gave us our only loss this season.”
Palami is also bracing for a hectic week for his squad, which is making its Singapore Cup debut on Saturday against Warriors FC, the invitational tournament’s defending champion.
“It’s going to be a busy week for us. I just hope the players are ready for the tough grind ahead. We look forward to that.”
PSG hopes to steer clear of the threat of relegation as it takes on fourth-running Kaya earlier at 5:15 p.m.
The seventh-running squad, with has 14 points to show, tries to gain a share of sixth place with Green Archers United opposite a Kaya side trying to raise its point total to 27.
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