UFL players impressed with new Emperador Stadium

Some players of the United Football League were impressed with the new Emperador Stadium in Mckinley Hill in Taguig when the League staged its first televised matches in the venue last Tuesday night.

Loyola Meralco Sparks striker Freddy Gonzalez, who scored his team’s lone goal in the television debut of the field, said that the pitch might be the best one in the country today.

“So far it’s the best one. This one at least is a good mid-sized pitch so it’s good for the real games,” he said.

However, he admitted that the current quality of the brand new pitch, which has only hosted five UFL matches so far, made it difficult to play on.

“When I was dribbling the ball there, I tried to kick it and the ball got stuck in the rubber,” he said. “Give it a few weeks and this pitch would be fantastic.”

Sparks teammate and star Phil Younghusband also expressed the difficulty of playing in such new pitch.

“It’s still soft. To run on it , you need more energy to push off because its soft,” he said. “I’d like to make it bigger so we can run into the spaces but I hear that they’re planning to make it bigger eventually.”

Younghusband said that the closeness of the bleachers to the field is something unique for a football field, which are usually situated inside bigger stadiums.

“This is really nice. The fans are right next to the ground so it means that you can interact with the fans and they can see the players up close,” he said.

Pachanga Diliman midfielder Jason Cunliffe also said that the new venue is a welcome development for the sport in the country. “Look at the stadium. It’s good to be part of it,” Cunliffe said. 

Younghusband also thought of the same way.

“I’m really impressed and I really like it,” he said. “It’s great for Philippine football.”

via InterAktv