The club’s penultimate match in this year’s AFC Champions League Group Stage came down to a late heartbreaker. Kaya FC-Iloilo pushed BG Pathum United to the absolute limit, but the Thai champions escaped with a 1-0 victory. It was a hard-fought, physical match in the rain that featured an Iloilo side unrecognizable from their previous outing.
Marwin Angeles made his return to the lineup while Zach Banzon kept his place starting in goal. Both were put to work from the jump as BG began attacking as soon as the match started, creating chance after chance attacking both flanks. Kaya’s defensive formation held firm though, turning away crosses into the box, cutting off passing angles, and deflecting attempts on goal.
BG put up a staggering 14 shots in the first half—the total coming up to 28 by the final whistle—as they worked to put Kaya away early. However, the Iloilo side worked even harder. The backline outright refused to give their forwards space in the box to make plays, while the midfielders made it difficult to penetrate through the middle. The Thai club dominated possession and often broke into the final third, but found their attacks either rebuffed by the wall of black jerseys or missing the goal entirely.
As the first half came to a close, Kaya’s defense proved more than capable of frustrating their opponents and keeping them at bay. The door opened for them to be bolder in their attacks, and Jarvey Gayoso came in for Jovin Bedic at the break to provide some fresh legs to the offense.
Both sides launched a series of counters to start the second half. Daizo Horikoshi broke free twice in the 48th and 51st minute, though both shots were kept out. On the other end, BG got off two dangerous shots back to back in the 56th minute. The first was a long shot that was blocked by Simone Rota, and follow-up strike managed to hit the inside of the post but bounced back into the arms of Banzon.
As time passed, the light drizzle earlier in the game turned into an absolute downpour, though it was in these conditions that Kaya got their best chance. On a counter in the 70th minute, Gayoso shook his man down the left sideline and sent in an early cross to Kenshiro Daniels sprinting past the defenders. The forward was able to get his shot off, but it was ultimately palmed away.
Kaya looked to keep up the offensive pressure, sending in Arnel Amita and Eric Giganto for Angeles and Daniels in the 71st minute. By this point in the match, the waterlogged pitch had players slipping all over the place. Things took a turn for the worse as Carlyle Mitchell went down with an apparent leg injury, which necessitated Masanari Omura to check into the game in the 76th.
Both teams remained aggressive however, and in the end it was BG Pathum United that pulled it out. In the 83rd minute, Sarach Yooyen’s strikefrom the edge of the box finally found the mark. During a scramble following a corner, the midfielder got to the second ball first and slid it right into the bottom left corner for the heartbreaker. They proceeded to run out the remaining clock and emerged the victors once more.
Two Kaya players made their way into the referee’s book in additional time: Jovin Bedic for a reckless challenge in first half, and Masanari Omura for a sliding collision in the second. Fun fact: the captain’s armband travelled thrice in this match. It started off with Bedic, who passed it to Angeles at halftime, who passed it to Mitchell when he was subbed, who passed it to Banzon when he made his premature exit.
Kaya FC-Iloilo put up a fantastic effort against the Thai champions, playing like a completely different squad from the first match 13 days prior. The result just didn’t agree with the effort shown by the players on the muddy pitch today, one that was no doubt worthy of Champions League points. The Filipino side still have one last chance to prove themselves, the final match of their inaugural ACL campaign against Viettel FC on Sunday.
