MANILA -- Ceres Negros' key player Manny Ott could be spending some time on the sideline for both his club and the Philippine Azkals as he suffered a facial fracture during the PFL match against JPV Marikina on Saturday.
"Guess it didn't work out well. Have a fracture under my eye that needs to be surgically fixed!" the midfielder said on his Instagram page.
With a surgery set later this week, Ott is likely to miss Negros' PFL and AFC Cup campaigns and will be questionable for the Azkals' upcoming games later this year.
The injury was a result of an inadvertent elbow from Ryuki Kozawa while jocking for position to get the ball late into the second half of their showdown at the Biñan Football Stadium in Biñan.
Ott was stretchered out of the game to the surprise of most of the spectators, who were looking at the live action at the other end.
"Nobody cares about the players"
Right after the 1-1 draw was formalized, Negros coach Risto Vidakovic hit out at the referees for just letting go of the said incident, in which he thought Kozawa should have been booked.
"We are talking about the importance of the players--how important it is to protect them--and I think there is no sense anymore. Nobody cares about the players," the Serbian mentor said.
He then reiterated his claim on Twitter, saying, "[The] elbow is not [called a] red card, not even yellow, and [for] many times, [it] is not even [a] foul here in our league. Please protect your players [because] they are playing for your national team also."
Negros has flown back to its home at the Panaad Stadium in Bacolod as the club hosts Davao at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
On the other hand, Marikina, once again the designated home team, returns to the Biñan Football Stadium to face Laguna earlier in the night at 4 p.m. (PNA)
