Breaking clear

After victories, and other results largely going their way, Union Buenos Aires and London City FC are now on the verge of breaking clear at the top of the Global Premier Football League table. And they’ve done it in different ways. City have had a settled squad, with minimal injury worries and no suspensions, which has allowed Barry Melia‘s outfit to move relentlessly forward. Union, on the other hand, have had countless suspensions to deal with, including three for their trip to Shanghai, but the added chaos just seems to drive them on.

ROUND 13 ROUND-UP

Two first half goals were enough for Union to navigate their way through what could have been a difficult trip to Shanghai Pearl. The extravagance on show in recent weeks was largely absent for Union, but with players like league-leading goal scorer, Rico Cocci and Sebastiano Cruz, in their side they’ll always have enough to beat most sides in this season’s GPFL. Cocci fired home his fifteenth goal of the campaign, just before half time, to make the game safe.

London City survived a late New York Capitals fight-back to – just – secure their eighth win of the season, and maintain the league’s only remaining unbeaten record. Jeroen de Rijck and Anthony Mears had City two up, but Mark Ives missed a golden chance to wrap things up midway through the second half, firing wide from the spot. Samuel Fernandes headed home moments before the end of regulation time, then missed from close range with the last kick of the match.

At the Maracana, Esportivo Rio were able to freshen up some of their players, while also easing to the day’s biggest win over Johannesburg Rush. Xabier Ballester, in for his first start of the season, completed a mature hat trick by the hour mark, which allowed coach Leal to rotate and rest a large portion of his squad. Things couldn’t have gone better for the Brazilians.

Olympia Munchen and Paris Metro were both held on the road. Olympia needed a strike from young substitute, Olaf Roth, to leave Ciudad de Madrid with a share of the points, while Metro needed a substitute of their own to share the spoils against a defiant Hong Kong Traders. Charles Puech came of the bench to level the scores with eighteen minutes left.

The upset of the round came in Singapore, where Valdomiro Sa‘s finish two minutes into added time gave Marina Bay Flyers their third win of the season over an Eternal Roma side that had played an hour with ten men.

Emirates United continued their upward mobility, with a win over Harbour City that pushed them up to eighth on the table. United needed to take the lead three times to eventually see off an enterprising City outfit. Dado Coutinho powered home a late header to complete a very watchable game and, for his side, an important victory. Earlier, each team’s centre forward, Geert-Jan de Walle and Guiherme de Freitas, scored a seventh goal of the season apiece.

Back on familiar territory, Tokyo-Yokohama United, bounced back from defeat in Toronto with a narrow win over Constantinople FC. Richard Casey‘s goal separated the two sides.

Toronto Athletic, on the other hand, fell to another defeat, albeit off the back of a fighting effort against LA Icons. The teams entered the final ten minutes level, having scored a goal each, before Icons’ substitute, Isaias Fernan, slid home what would ultimately be the winner.

In Cairo, two tired teams fought out the only goalless stalemate of the round. Neither al-Qāhirah Stars or CF Azteca could muster up much in the way of attacking threat as the relentless recent schedule starts to bite.

CURRENT STANDINGS

UPCOMING FIXTURES

GPFL STAT ATTACK

AL-QAHIRAH STARS

CF AZTECA

CIUDAD DE MADRID

CONSTANTINOPLE FC

ESPORTIVO RIO

ETERNAL ROMA

HARBOUR CITY

HONG KONG TRADERS

LA ICONS

LONDON CITY FC

MARINA BAY FLYERS

NEW YORK CAPITALS

PARIS METROPOLE

SHANGHAI PEARL

TOKYO YOKOHAMA UNITED

TORONTO ATHLETIC