Monday, January 29, 2007 Tsunakiri lifts Crazy Horse to title By Mike Limpag Sun.Star Staff Reporter
MITSOU Tsunakiri’s pin-point accuracy lifted Crazy Horse to a tough 1-0 win over the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) and a top finish in the Aboitiz Men’s Premier League yesterday at the San Roque Parish football grounds.
Crazy Horse finished on top of the eight-team league with 19 points on a 6-1 win-draw card, to earn a spot in the Philippine Football Federation Men’s Open regional finals next month.
Going into the match, the title was Crazy Horse’s to lose after Queen City United again forfeited its match against Don Bosco Alumni FC.
The forfeit put Don Bosco and Crazy Horse tied on points, but Crazy Horse had the advantage in goals scored.
Don Bosco settled for runner-up, while USJ-R took the third spot.
Queen City, meanwhile, lost its last two games by forfeit.
“We will have to do something about this (forfeit) because they have done this twice already,” said Cebu Football Association president Jonathan Maximo.
Outside chance
Don Bosco had an outside chance of overtaking Crazy Horse if they were able to beat Queen City by 14 and USJ-R managed to beat Crazy Horse.
However, that option was closed with the forfeit by Queen City.
In the final match, Crazy Horse took the initiative early, forcing keeper Oscar Lemence to pull a save in a goal mouth scramble in the ninth.
Midfielder Kim Relucio, who played for USJ-R in his college days, tried a 30-yarder but it sailed straight to Lemence.
In the 23rd Tsunakiri intercepted a pass, slipped past a defender and sent the ball straight to the top left corner, giving Lemence no chance to stop the goal.
USJ-R managed to put pressure on Crazy Horse in the second half, but they couldn’t convert on their chances, while Crazy Horse forays from the flanks gave the USJ-R defense a lot of headaches.
Meanwhile, disaster was averted early in the match when official Michael Culibra stopped the game after someone pointed on him to check the ball.
Rusty
Culibra did and found two nails stuck on the ball, with the rusty pointed end of one nail portruding in the surface. The ball was promptly replaced.
"Maayo nabantayan dayun, wala pay nakaheading (It’s good the nail was found early and nobody’s made a header yet)," one official said after seeing the nail-stricken ball.
In the other games, San Roque FC fought Magone FC to a 1-1 draw, while the University of Southern Philippines-Foundation and Wilde Cebu settled for a scoreless draw.
Felimon Sabella scored first for Magone, which earned its lone point in the league, before San Roque’s Romeo Bordador leveled the count in the 53rd.
