MANILA – Kaya Iloilo will gun for the inaugural 2018 Philippines Football League Copa Paulino Alcantara title when it tangles with Davao Aguilas in the one-game finale Saturday at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
The wining team in the much-anticipated match at 5 p.m. will join Ceres Negros in representing the Philippines in the 2019 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup.
They may have dominated Aguilas in their season series in the League but the latter still makes them wary, Kaya head coach Noel Marcaida said.
“We won our (season) series against Davao (in the League) but they have improved a lot since then,” Marcaida said. “I think they are on an 11-game winning streak since our last meeting last June.”
“So, we expect our finals match to be exciting since, aside from the title, a chance to represent the country in the AFC (Cup) next year is at stake in this match,” added Marcaida, who will welcome back Negrense Camelo Tacusalme from a one-game suspension.
Another motivation for Kaya to claim the crown is to honor Paulino Alcantara, who was born in Concepcion, Iloilo in 1896 before moving to Barcelona, Spain at 3 years old, team media director Jing Jamlang said.
“He (Alcantara) was born in Iloilo, and if we win this, it would be huge for Iloilo fans,” Jamlang said of the Spanish-Filipino Alcantara, who went on to become one of the best players in FC Barcelona and also held the Spanish football club’s record for most goals before.
Aside from Tacusalme, also part of the Kaya roster are Robert Lopez Mendy, Masanari Omura, Alfred Osei, and Jovin Bedic, while Davao is led by Phil and James Younghusband, Jason de Jong, Matthew Hartmann, and Joshua Grommen.
The final stage was set between Kaya and Aguilas after both disposed of Stallion Laguna (3-2) and JPV Marikina (6-1), respectively, in the semifinal round on Sunday./PN
