United faces Mendiola XI

Originally published by Daily Tribune

Three teams will shoot for an early lead when they plunge into action on the third day of the Philippines Football League (PFL) Sunday.

Defending champion United City FC tries to make it two in a row at the expense of Mendiola FC in the 4 p.m. kickoff at the Imus City Grandstand in Cavite.

Stallion Laguna FC, meanwhile, will fire off action at the Rizal Memorial Stadium against Maharlika Manila FC at 4 p.m., followed by the tussle between Kaya FC Iloilo and Dynamic Herb Cebu FC at 7 p.m.

UCFC, Stallion, and Kaya are on top of the seven-team table with three points apiece from their opening victories.

United City wasted no time and hammered a masterful 5-0 win against Maharlika on Sunday, sending a strong message across the league.

Newcomer Matthew Custodio struck a thunderous long-range bomb for a 3-0 halftime lead before youngsters Kenshiro Daniels and Pocholo Bugas took over with two more goals in the second half.

“Mendiola gave us a bit of a scare last time we played and they shut out our frontline so we have to be very careful. They are well organized and for sure motivated to play us,” UCFC owner Eric Gottschalk said.

Kaya-Iloilo, likewise, wants to extend its winning ways after a slim 1-0 win over the Azkals Development Team.

Kaya strategist Yu Hoshide is expecting that his wards would come up with a stronger performance to avoid the pressure they had before Eric Giganto netted the winning header in the 85th minute.

“We have to improve more and more. We need to win and get three points,” said Hoshide, who will bank on reinforcement Daizo Horikoshi, Robert Lopez Mendy, and skipper Jovin Bedic.

“I really expected it to be a tough (opening) game but I did not expect it to be scoreless for 80 to 90 minutes.”