FEU Ateneo UAAP football result turns on two strikes
Far Eastern University beat Ateneo de Manila University 2-1 on Sunday at the UP Diliman Football Stadium, closing the first round of the UAAP Season 89 Collegiate Men's Football Tournament with the win the Tamaraws had been waiting for. Rustel Buenafe and Theo Libarnes scored, and FEU moved to fifth place on seven points.
The result ended a winless run stretching back to FEU's 10-0 defeat of University of the East on October 4. It also kept the Tamaraws within striking distance of the Final Four places with the second round still to play.
Buenafe breaks the deadlock before the break
Buenafe, a fifth-year attacking midfielder, opened the scoring in the 44th minute with a right-footed strike from outside the box. The timing mattered: FEU reached the interval ahead rather than level, and Ateneo had to chase the second half.
Libarnes doubled the lead in the 55th minute, cutting inside from the left flank before firing a right-footed shot that gave the Tamaraws a two-goal cushion. Two goals across either side of halftime gave FEU the margin it protected for the rest of the match.
Ateneo pull one back through Angeles
Ateneo responded five minutes later. Alfonso Aljama delivered a cross from the wing and Diego Angeles headed home in the 60th minute, reviving the Blue Eagles' hopes of a comeback.
Both Libarnes and Ateneo forward Dov Cariño generated further opportunities down the stretch, but neither could alter the final scoreline. Ateneo remained sixth on four points, with a draw against University of the Philippines and a victory over UE accounting for their first-round tally.
UAAP Season 89 standings after the first round
FEU's seven points leave the Tamaraws two behind fourth-placed University of Santo Tomas, which was facing De La Salle University at the time of the result. That gap is the practical measure of FEU's position: close enough that the second round remains a genuine chase rather than a formality.
Coach Vince Santos framed the win as a correction of habit rather than a change of approach. "It's a much-needed win. We have to take each of the matches moving forward in the same way — like it's the last," he said.
Santos pointed to the lapses that cost his side points earlier in the round. "All of the defeats or the dropped points that we wasted really came from lapses, and it's something that we agreed as a team that we would be more focused, especially with the set piece," he added.
What FEU carries into the second round
The second round begins in two weeks, giving both squads a break to reset before the standings tighten again. Santos, who coached FEU to the Season 85 title, was direct about the target.
"All right, we just have to take it one game at a time," he said. "We're still very much looking to get back into the Final Four."
For Ateneo, the margin is narrower. Four points from the first round means the Blue Eagles need results quickly once play resumes, though the late chances against FEU showed the attack can still create them.
The original report on this match was published by tiebreakertimes.com.ph.
