ILOILO City – Kaya Iloilo will be parading an undermanned lineup when it plays hosts to Davao Aguilas in the 2018 Philippines Football League this afternoon at the Iloilo Sports Complex.
Kaya Iloilo head coach Noel Marcaida said that while they hope to bounce back from their 3-1 loss to Global Cebu last week, they will be hard pressed with Robert Lopez Mendy and Alfred Osei serving suspension.
Jordan Mintah, the league’s leading scorer alongside Ceres Negros’ Bienvenido Marañon of Spain, is also doubtful to play after sustaining injury during their match last week.
“At the end of the day, whoever is hungrier to win, whoever has the cool head, is concentrated, focused, and really switched on in the game, they’ll be able to get the good result,” Marcaida said.
He added: “It’s really disappointing in a sense that not only for this game, but the upcoming game, we’ll be missing our foreign players that we have. We will be playing with only one foreigner (Masanari Omura) going forward.”
Aside from Omura, also leading the way for Kaya Iloilo squad are Ilonggo Jovin Bedic, Negrenses Jalsor and Janrick Soriano, Camelo Tacusalme, Eric Giganto, Ref Cuaresma, Kenshiro Daniels, and Miguel Tanton.
“It will be tough facing a team (Davao) with really talented players, and who physically, have the advantage. But these are the type of games where we need some of the players to really step up and play well,” said Marcaida.
Kaya Iloilo are currently at second place in the standings with 16 points, on five wins, one draws and three defeats, while Davao Aguilas are at third with 14 points, on four wins, two draws and four losses./PN
