PFF-Smart Club Championships finals kick-off at Rizal football stadium

Sans the Younghusband brothers, Andres Gonzales and Paul Concepcion, the Rizal-Smart San Beda FC face the NCR Teknika FC in the first of two finals matches of the Philippine Footbal Federation—Smart Club Championships at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium in Manila Saturday evening. The four Rizal players were meted automatic suspensions after accumulating two yellow cards in earlier games of the competition.The NCR team will be going on the pitch without key defender Badreldin Elhabbib, who also collected two yellows. To fill the scoring void the four suspended players left, Caslib may rely on Vaughn Mellendrez, Jeremias Jao, and David Fornea, who is eyeing a slot in the national Under-23 squad for the Southeast Asian Games. "We have to play as a cohesive unit if we can expect a good result… we must manage how they (Teknika) attack and make very good transition decisions." coach Aris Caslib of the Rizal-Smart San Beda Fc said. Defense happens to be what got Teknika all the way to the finals but to make Rizal goalkeeper Ref Cuaresma busy, they also have scoring options in Filipino-Iranian Azkal Misagh Bahadoran and Africans Aye Arye Nil and Izzeldin Elhabbib. The second finals match will be on Monday, August 22. A P100,000 cash prize awaits the first PFF-Smart Club champions. - EVR/JVP, GMA News