By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter
DESPITE the controversy surrounding its official kickoff, the Philippine Premier League (PPL) went ahead with its season opener on Saturday at the Rizal Memorial Stadium with Kaya FC-Iloilo emerging victorious and Philippine Air Force and Mendiola FC 1991 fighting to a draw.
Reduced to a five-team field after two clubs decided not to participate in the inaugural season of the rebranded league on the eve of the kickoff, the PPL took it and eventually decided to forge ahead with the tournament.
Stallion Laguna FC and Global Makati FC, in an urgent press conference held on Friday, raised some issues, including dissatisfaction over how the league took form in the lead-up (e.g. club licenses and sponsorship) and questioned the capacity of the operators to run the league, which replaced the Philippines Football League, among others.
They then announced that they are not playing in the PPL until all their concerns were satisfactorily answered or a new league, preferably handled by the Philippine Football Federation (PFF), is established.
In their own press conference on opening day, the PPL, through commissioner Bernie Sumayao and tournament director Ritchie Gannaban, reiterated their readiness to handle the league even as they said they have the backing of the PFF and that they hope that those who have issues with the PPL would be willing to sit down with them and talk things over with the end goal of moving ahead united.
The PPL also said it is looking “very closely” at the possibility of adding a sixth club in the league so as not to jeopardize the standing of the league, and Philippine football in general, in relation to participation at Asian Football Confederation tournaments.
OPENING-DAY GAMES
Meanwhile on opening day, Kaya got off its campaign to a solid start with a 3-0 victory over Green Archers United in the televised 7 p.m. game.
Arnel Amita (13’), Joven Bedic (16’) and Yannick Tuazon (79’) accounted for Kaya’s three points in a game that had it dominating from the start.
“The boys really worked hard. The first 20 minutes dictated the whole 90 minutes,” said Iloilo head coach Noel Marcaida after the game.
“The only thing [I’m not happy with] is we weren’t successful in resting some of our players, such as Masanari [Omura] and Darryl Roberts. We needed to introduce Alfred Osei and Marwin Angeles to get control of the midfield, and we weren’t able to take off those players as we had planned,” added the Kaya coach, whose wards will have a short turnaround as they play in the AFC Cup on April 30 against Lao Toyota FC in a key match at the Panaad Park and Football Stadium in Bacolod City.
In the first game at 4 p.m., meanwhile, Air Force and Mendiola fought to a 2-2 draw to open their campaign.
Nimrod Balabat put Mendiola on the board early, scoring in the eighth minute, but Air Force levelled the count in the 39th minute as Rodolf Bebangco connected for his team to force a 1-1 draw heading into the halftime break.
The two teams scrambled to take control in the second half.
Mendiola then went up 13 minutes into the second half after Roberto Corsame Jr. found the bottom of the net.
The Airmen dug deep to claw their way back and were rewarded in the 79th minute with veteran Yanti Barsales on the scoring end.
No goals would be scored after, leaving the count tied as the final horn sounded.
ESPN5 is the official broadcaster of the PPL. Follow the league on Twitter @PhilPremLeague and on Instagram at PhilippinePremierLeague. Search for Philippine Premier League to visit its official Facebook page.
