MANILA – Kaya Futbol Club-Iloilo recovered from an early deficit to defeat Azkals Developmental Team, 3-1, in the 2022-2023 Philippines Football League on Saturday at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium.
Audie Menzi, Jarvey Gayoso and Nano Amita converted a goal each as the Iloilo City-based booters racked up its fourth consecutive win for 42 points, on 14 wins and three losses, to close out the round 3 of the tournament.
Kaya-Iloilo were stunned early in the contest with Andres Aldeguer converting past the defense of Zach Banzon to surge Azkals Developmental Team ahead at the 10th minute.
Kaya-Iloilo responded with an equalizer at the 28th minute as Daizo Horikoshi found Menzi at the far post from a corner and the latter calmly scored past the defense of the Azkals.
Gayoso, formerly of the Azkals Developmental squad, drilled the go ahead goal at the 47th minute as he had an explosive run from the defense before drilling past the goalkeeper.
Azkals Developmental had their chances to tie the game but could not penetrate the defense before Amita secured the victory for Kaya-Iloilo with a connection at the 94th minute.
This was the third victory of Kaya-Iloilo against the Azkals Developmental Team this season following a 1-0 triumph last August 7, 2022 and a 1-0 beating last October 1 last year.
“I am happy with the result but nothing has changed, we have to win all our games, that’s still the same. We’re still on the way, so we have to try our best all the time,” said Kaya-Iloilo head coach Yu Hoshide.
“We’re still building up. We can still improve more, so training is really important for us,” he added. “Recently, our training intensity and motivation have been really good from the players; and that showed in our game.”
Kaya-Iloilo will have a month-long break before returning to action on April 15 against Azkals Developmental Team anew to start the fourth and final round of the season./PN
