Alfred Osei Reflects on “Most Intense” PFL Game

For Alfred Osei, Saturday’s encounter against Ceres Negros won’t be easily forgotten. In extremely wet conditions at Panaad Stadium, he and the rest of Kaya Makati were on the verge of an important 2-2 draw against the recent ASEAN champs. But in the 94th minute, Fernando Rodriguez flipped the script with a dramatic late winner. Heartbreak. Despite a commendably gritty performance in hostile territory, Alfred and the team, after exhausting all their efforts, had nothing to show for it.

“Getting on the scoresheet, but your team doesn’t win, it doesn’t mean anything to me,” said a disappointed Osei, whose hero status dissipated with Rodriguez’s strike. Alfred, a center back, was responsible for Kaya’s momentary equalizer.

“You’re maybe the 10th person to ask me that,” he smiled. “My teammates were asking me. Ken (Daniels) was the first one, then Masa (Omura), then Jordan (Mintah) asked me, ‘What the hell are you doing here?'”

“I guess it was instinct. We need to fight. Sometimes, you need to get out of position to make things happen. I guess that was one of the moments, that’s what happened,” he explained.

The goal was one of the most controversial moments of the game. Ceres were up in arms after the incident, and momentarily refused to continue the match. The uproar lasted almost 10 minutes before the game eventually restarted. Negros’ point of contention, was that their goalkeeper had been struck in the head in the lead up to the goal. Alfred shared his vantage point.

“What I could see from where I was, there was a cross that [Roland] Muller (goalkeeper) should have kept nice and cool. I’d say the pitch played a part. He coughed it up. Our striker (Robert Lopez Mendy) tried to finish, and someone collided with him. I think it was their center back. The ball was there to be won, so when it came to me, I toe poked it in. It’s not one of the nicest goals, but it counts,” he recounted.

After the incident, the game, which already felt dangerously combustable, teetered on the edge of chaos. The players, the coaches, and the crowd were all on edge.

“100 percent. 100 percent,” said Osei on whether it was the wildest contest in the Philippines Football League so far. “There were fouls, a penalty, a red card, fights — and fights — big goals, big tackles. That’s going to be the most intense game we are going to play this season. I don’t think there’s anything going to happen more than that.”

While the match will be a difficult one to shake from the mind, Alfred believes the team has no choice but to move on, especially with a massive clash with rivals Global Cebu on the horizon.

“We try as much as possible to put this defeat behind us. We’re going to go in with the right mindset. And just like we did on Saturday, we’re going to leave everything on the field.”

Although an immediate shift of focus is currently necessary to guarantee passage into the Finals Series, where only the top four teams qualify, Osei, much like the rest of his teammates, is hoping he’ll get one more shot at the Bacolod powerhouse.

“We can’t wait. We can’t wait. If we get the opportunity to redeem ourselves — they beat us three times and it’s not fun — so we can’t wait to get them on the sword as they did to us. We can’t wait. We’re looking forward to that.”