Kaya FC-Iloilo’s Brave Effort Against the Reigning Champions Despite the final score, Kaya put up a performance they can take pride in.

Coach Graham Harvey had some mixed emotions at last night’s post-match press conference. It wasn’t a particularly close game—Ulsan Hyundai FC soundly won 3-0—but the effort and overall performance of the squad showed promise. This match was the best Kaya FC-Iloilo has looked all tournament, but it just wasn’t enough to overcome last year’s AFC Champions League winners.

“I’m very proud of how hard the boys worked when we didn’t have the ball, but mostly a little bit frustrated. Maybe our lack of big game experience showed there,” Harvey stated. “You play who’s in front of you, and I thought the boys did that probably for all but four moments in the game. Unfortunately for us, three of those moments they scored from.”

For the majority of the match, Kaya was a thorn in Ulsan’s side. They were executing timely shifts and pressures, and also displayed decisiveness with the ball that was mainly absent in the previous games. Encouraging signs all around for Iloilo, who played with surprising poise against their toughest opponents yet.

“I think we could’ve perhaps got more from the game. Obviously they dominated possession, but we had a couple of chances.” Graham continued, “The main thing for me to take away is that I’m super proud of how hard the boys worked. We were never gonna run away from a challenge.”

Kaya will soon have their chance to get back at Ulsan, facing each other back-to-back times on the schedule. When asked about how the loss will affect team morale for the rematch, Coach Harvey offered a simple solution.

“It’s easy, we watch the video back and show the boys just how well they did do. We made a couple mistakes that cost us dearly, but I thought we were defensively very disciplined.”

“Our back four was very well organized, and those in front of them were good as well. I’m proud of how’ve they’ve done,” he added. “We put a good performance in there against the champions of Asia, and so a massive credit to our boys.”

Coach was also asked about a tweak he made to the lineup prior to the match. Daizo Horikoshi and Ryo Fujii switched places, the former playing in a more central area while the latter took residence on the wing. The shift proved effective, with Daizo’s speed being crucial for pressing their ball carriers as well as quickly transitioning to offense on counters. Ryo also impressed in his new role, adding security to the right side as well as a passing option up and down the flank.

“We’ve come here to play our style as much as we can. Putting guys through the middle was something there that we thought when we did get the ball, we might have a little more penetration, a little bit more attacking thrust,” he explained. “We also recognize the threat with Ulsan getting in behind us and crossing the ball, so that’s why we made that swap.”

Coach Harvey mentioned that he would continue to adjust the rotations, paying close attention to the players’ fitness levels. He also boldly reaffirmed what the club’s goals are for the rest of the tournament.

“Like I’ve said before having come through the qualifying stage, we’ve got the most games out of everybody here—seven games in eighteen days. Of course, we’ll be looking at how we recover.”

“We’ve come here to make sure that we gain experience to go back to the PFL (Philippines Football League), so that we can win the PFL and come back here again next year,” Coach proclaimed. “We want to make sure that our players get the maximum from these games, so that we get that match sharpness and big game experience because we want to be back here.”