Kaya to take on Stallion in Copa Paulino Alcantara semis
KAYA FC-Iloilo will take on Stallion Laguna FC in the semifinals of the Copa Paulino Alcantara with home field advantage.
Set for Sunday, Oct. 21, Kaya will host Stallion at the Iloilo Sports Complex in their knockout semifinal match to determine who advances to the final later this month.
Kaya sealed home field advantage after it defeated JPV Marikina FC, 1-0, on Wednesday to top Group B of the Copa and set up a date with Group A second-running team Stallion.
Robert Lopez Mendy provided the marginal goal in Kaya’s win over JPV at the Philippine Football Federation Artificial Turf Pitch in Carmona, Cavite, finding the bottom of the net at the seventh minute of the contest.
Mr. Lopez Mendy was set up by Jalsor Soriano and the Senegalese striker responded accordingly by calmly slipping the ball past JPV keeper Nelson Gasic to give his team the lead.
The two teams battled hard the rest of the way but JPV just could not get the breakthrough it needed to slump to the defeat and, in the process, hand group leadership to Kaya heading into the semifinals.
“It was a hard-fought battle to get the number one spot, but we’re happy that the objective was met. We’ll be playing the semifinals in Iloilo on Sunday,” said a pleased Kaya coach Noel Marcaida after the match.
He was quick to say though that work still needs to be done if they are to go deeper in the tournament and vie for a spot in the 2019 AFC Cup.
Playing in Iloilo once again after some time, Mr. Marcaida said they are excited to be back in action in front of their home fans and vowed to prepare hard and play well come Sunday.
“It’s been a long while not playing in Iloilo, and all the Ilonggos are expecting us to come back. We’re happy, we’re hungry and we can’t wait to play in Iloilo,” the Kaya coach said.
Kickoff of the Kaya-Stallion match is 3 p.m.
Meanwhile, playing in the other semifinal bracket are Davao Aguilas FC and JPV Marikina.
Davao secured the top spot in Group A with a 4-0 victory over Stallion also on Wednesday at the Biñan Football Stadium.
Phil Younghusband and Sungmin Kim each had a brace to tow their team to the top spot. —