TO get to the finals, the University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF) will have to beat the University of San Carlos (USC), a feat that it has failed to do in the last three years that it reached the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi) football finals.
Currently ranked fourth at seven points on one win, four wins and a loss—curiously against USC in the first round—USPF trails former champions University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R), which has eight points and is at third place. USC is second at 11 points, while UV is first also with 11 points.
USPF will meet USC again for their second round match on Nov. 7, after the USJ-R vs. University of Cebu (UC) match. Though USPF still has a game at hand on Nov. 11, a loss to USC on Nov. 7 means it will be stuck at seven points, rendering its last match against UV on Nov. 11 non-bearing for the three-time Cesafi football runner-up.
Even if it wins its last match, a loss to USC means USPF can only get to 10 points—which is only good for third place as UV and USC already have 11.
Only the top two teams after the double round elimination will advance to the finals.
Though a draw with USC won’t eliminate USPF outright for the chase for the finals spot, it will mean that it has to beat UV by at least seven goals to catch up on points and goal difference and beat the Green Booters via the “goals for tiebreaker” for the second finals spot.
On the other hand, the path to the finals for the USJ-R Kicking Jaguars isn’t as hard. At eight points, they could get to 11 with a win over UC, the only team that has been eliminated so far and which the Jaguars already beat, 1-0, last Oct. 17.
The Jaguars also have a game at hand against USC on Nov. 11, giving them two chances to at least gain three points.
UV, the 2005 champion, only has one game left against USPF on Nov. 11 and may need only a draw to advance to the finals for the first time since winning the title 13 years ago. ML