MANILA – Stephan Schrock makes his way back to a Bacolod-based squad as he has been inserted into Team Bacolod for the AIA Kampeon Cup this weekend in the city.
Schrock, the longtime former Ceres Negros captain, will suit up for the home side as the Kampeon Cup, traditionally the All-Star event of the AIA 7's Football League where the best players from each of the league's legs around the country will converge in one place, makes a return amid the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.
Schrock, currently the playing coach of the Azkals Development Team (ADT) in the Philippines Football League, gets an excuse of sorts to join the Kampeon Cup as he will not be seeing action for the ADT in its upcoming Saturday match against Mendiola.
The founder of the 7's Football League, Schrock's fellow former Philippine Azkal Anton Del Rosario, will suit up for Team Taguig, and based on how the group draw went on Monday at the Studio 300 Bowling Center in Pasig City, there is a chance that both football legends will clash either in the semifinals or even the final.
Both the Taguig and the Bacolod sides were drawn into separate groups which will see Bacolod joining a fellow Negrense team in one group and Taguig ending up in possibly the "group of death".
Bacolod was drawn to Group A together with San Carlos and Pampanga.
Group B, on the other hand, consists of Taguig, Iloilo, and reigning champion Cebu.
Taguig gets an early chance to exact revenge on Cebu, which defeated them in the 2019 final on its own turf, the McKinley Hill Stadium.
However, Cebu will be fielding a whole new squad even as its head coach, Bing Colina, is now based here in Metro Manila, making its title defense already tough with only a few days left before the Friday start of the tournament.
Despite all of this, he believes Cebu will have a fighting chance of at least making the semifinals as long as they can beat Iloilo.
"I think Iloilo also has a short time to practice," Colina told the Philippine News Agency. "Presko pa rin sila, pero sa tingin ko, magandang laban ito (They are still fresh, but I think, this is a good match)."
He added, "Hopefully, we can catch up sa kanila pati yung sa Manila. Sa tingin ko, may laban naman kaming taga-Cebu (with them including in Manila. I think, we in Cebu have a good chance)."
The top two teams from each group after the pool play will slug it out in the crossover semifinals with the winners competing in the final. (PNA)
