Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 14) – Defending champion Kaya-Iloilo FC opened its title defense on a positive note with a 1-0 win over the returning Maharlika-Manila FC in the opening match of the Copa Paulino Alcantara 2022 on Monday at the PFF National Training Center in Carmona, Cavite.
Kaya star winger Daizo Horikoshi nailed the breakthrough goal in the 47th minute after stealing the ball from a setting Maharlika defender, off a miss by the returning Robert Lopez Mendy.
The goal was a quick turnaround from Kaya’s unlucky first half, where they missed their shots, where either the ball was wonderfully deflected by Maharlika’s Cameroonian goalkeeper Henri Bandeken Fong, or went a few inches off, even touching the goal post.
After the opening goal of the tournament, Fong displayed his brilliant goalkeeping abilities in the next plays as Kaya players kept on scrambling inside the penalty area in an attempt to double their lead.
The reigning Copa Paulino Alcantara titlists again had sorry goal misses in their offense, but their suffocating defensive tactics and dominant ball possession denied Maharlika a clear goal opportunity until the final whistle.
“We could have played well more. But because we have a game in the AFC Cup, so we have to focus our performance there. Especially me, I can’t get a goal in the first half and the team too. So, we have to change our game,” said Horikoshi in the post-match interview.
Kaya-Iloilo just came from a crushing 0-5 defeat against Sydney FC in the Asian Football Confederation Champions League preliminary round playoff match, which denied them a second straight berth in the main tournament of the continental football tiff.
