One more win needed

London City FC survived a late scare, after cruising through most of their latest Global Premier Football League match, to stretch their lead at the top to seven points and now need just one win from three matches to claim the title.

City’s margin stretched to such a margin after Esportivo Rio were pegged back late at a shocked Maracana, in the process slipping to third behind Union Buenos Aires.

The Londoners head to the UAE in round 36 looking to claim the crown. A day of destiny looms…

ROUND 35 ROUND-UP

Mark Ives‘ first half hat trick looked to have all but sealed London City’s league-leading 24th win of the season, against visiting CF Azteca, and sparked a party atmosphere at Wembley that lasted for most of the second half. With one of the meanest defenses in the league, local fans would have expected their team to cruise through the final stages of the match, but that’s not quite how things turned out.

Second half substitute, Marcelo Kimura, took 20 minutes to get going before firing home twice in the final ten minutes of regulation time. He was denied an unlikely hat trick when City keeper, Paul Blake, blocked from close range three minutes into added time. It was a wobble, but all that mattered in the end for City was that they secured another three points and took a giant step closer to an inaugural championship.

Esportivo stumbled again during a wild home match against Marina Bay Flyers. The sides traded goals through the opening hour or so before star man, Rodrigo Marchado scored what looked to be the decisive goal. But the Flyers are made of stern stuff, and wing back, Kevim de Sa, popped up with a minute remaining to bag a point for the visitors, shock Esportivo and leave London City in their debt.

Union leap-frogged Esportivo after a comfortable win over LA Icons at the Monumental. Goals from Rico Cocci and Abel Orozco had the hosts two up before the hour mark and that was enough to secure a worthy victory.

Orozco saw red late on, however, to sour the win, especially given his suspension will see the Uruguayan play-maker miss the remainder of the season.

Harbour City, Eternal Roma, Emirates United and Paris Metro all secured wins by various margins. Geert-Jan de Walle‘s late strike, his 33rd of the season, got Harbour City home at Shanghai Pearl, while a Davor Drazenovic double pushed Roma to victory in Tokyo. A goal and two assists for Antenor Nakamura was Metro’s star showing.

Toronto Athletic snaffled another point, this time against visiting Olympia Munich. Xavier Cariou‘s worldie had Athletic in front early, and it took an equally impressive effort by Remco Vreman to ensure Olympia left with a share of the spoils.

Hong Kong Traders scored probably the upset win of the day, at home to Ciudad de Madrid, while the match between Johannesburg Rush and New York Capitals ended goalless.

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