PFL champ United City gets domestic double bid off to smashing start

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MANILA, Philippines-United City FC (UCFC) put its title-retention drive into motion with a 5-0 thumping of Maharlika-Manila as the Philippines Football League (PFL) kicked off its 2022-23 season on Sunday at Rizal Memorial Stadium.

Curt Dizon, Alen Robertson and Matthew Custodio put the holders in front 3-0 in the first half before Kenshiro Daniels and Cholo Bugas also got into the scoring act after the restart to secure the full three points to open the league campaign.

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Goalkeeper Jun Badelic also picked up a clean sheet despite threats by Maharlika to score, including a penalty by Kim Sungmin which he was able to prevent in the first half.

UCFC, which won the last PFL edition in 2020 and is eyeing a domestic double after ruling the Copa Paulino Alcantara a few months ago, took the early lead in the table despite being level on points with Kaya-Iloilo.

Kaya earlier needed a last-gasp header from Eric Giganto to nip the Azkals Development Team, 1-0, in the opener.

Giganto’s goal came during stoppage time as Kaya sneaked past an ADT side which fielded debuting goalkeeper Julian Schwarzer for the first time.

The 21-year-old is the son of former Australia international Mark Schwarzer, who played goalie for Fulham in the English Premier League.

Stallion-Laguna and Mendiola FC 1991 open their season on Monday in the lone match set 4 p.m. at the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) National Training Centre in Carmona, Cavite.

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