2021 Copa Paulino Alcantara Primer Takeaways from the press conference, looking ahead to Kaya's Group Stage opponents, and quotes from Coach Yu Hoshide.

The Copa Paulino Alcantara’s Pre-Competition Press Conference was an opportunity for some of the stalwarts of the Philippine football community to reunite, and see each other again for the first time in a long while. Nearly a full year has passed since the last time a professional match was held on home soil, and everyone present shared a collective sigh of relief that football was finally back.

The zoom call was chock-full of familiar faces, with the head coaches of all five participating clubs there representing their squad: Kaya FC-Iloilo’s Yu Hoshide, Azkals Development Team’s Jovanie Villagracia, Mendiola FC 1991’s Dan Padernal, Stallion Laguna FC’s Ernie Nierras, and former Iloilo coach, Dynamic Herb Cebu FC’s Oliver “Bingbing” Colina.

Thrilled to be back and competing for the Copa, Coach Yu got the ball rolling and made his aim clear stating, “Of course, we are excited. We won this competition in 2018, so we want to win again and bring the trophy home to Iloilo.”

When asked about his confidence in the club’s preparation for the tournament, Coach Hoshide noted that Kaya has stayed ready since coming back from the AFC Champions League stint in July. “Actually, we were already ready to play un August,” he stated. “We’ve all been waiting for so long, so we are really excited to play this coming Sunday.”

Notably absent was United City FC, who announced over the weekend that they were withdrawing from the competition. This threw a fork into Group A’s round robin picture, but PFF officials explained that Stallion and Cebu will both receive byes to the Semi-finals, with their head-to-head matchup deciding the seeding. Group B, on the other hand, will proceed as planned with Kaya, ADT, and Mendiola all ready to go.

The Philippine Men’s U-23 National Team had a rough outing in the recent Asian Qualifiers, and the players who are returning to the Development Team will be looking to bounce back on the local stage. Coach Jovanie expects his squad to take their frustrations from the games in Singapore, and turn it into motivation for the upcoming Copa matches.

On the other hand, Mendiola will employ a similar approach to the Cup: a youth movement revolving around reinforcements from the San Beda Red Booters. Tapping into their collegiate roots, several exciting prospects will get their first crack at the pro level for the Manila-based squad and their notorious counter-attacking style.

Both clubs pose quite the challenge for Kaya FC. In contrast to the young legs of their opponents, Iloilo will have to rely on their clever, fluid, yet disciplined style and channel their experience playing at the next level.

Coach Hoshide still hasn’t forgotten that Champions League feeling, and he’s spent the past couple of months making sure that the team hasn’t either. “Everything we learned going against Asia’s best clubs, that intensity, is what we want to bring out in this Cup,” he stated.

With the reigning champs UCFC out of the picture, Kaya appear to be branded as favorites on paper. However, Coach Yu believes the Copa race is wide open for any one of these teams to take it.

“Everybody has a chance to win, that’s why we’re always training hard,” he admitted. “That’s why we have to give 100% on the field, that’s what I’m expecting from the players.”

“It will not be easy for us. All the clubs have really good teams. Against Mendiola last year, we were not able to win. They’re a very organized club,” Coach Hoshide cautioned, referencing their PFL match last year where the teams fought to a 0-0 standstill.

“We just have to do our best all the time, in all the games. After that, we’ll either be champions or not. That’s all that we have to do, give 100%.”

Kaya FC-Iloilo’s opening night fixture against the Azkals Development Team takes place on November 7, 7:30pm, at the PFF National Football Center in Carmona, Cavite. Stream the match Live on the PFL, Puso Pilipinas, and Smart Sports Facebook pages, the PFL YouTube channel, or watch it on TV with One Sports and One Sports+.