Global Down 10-Men Kaya, Loyola Hand Army Reality Check

Kaya’s most controversial match yet for this season happened against Global. What started off as a great game—at least for the first 15 minutes—turned into a controversial affair when OJ Porteria, who scored the opening goal, was given a straight red card for using his hand. Kaya was reduced to ten men and eventually lost to Global FC, 2–1. The red card was rescinded later on by the UFL after reviewing the match. 

Perennial title contenders Global got their title challenge back on track after narrowly defeating rivals Kaya FC, 2-1, last Saturday. Kaya star OJ Porteria will undoubtedly be the center of all discussions as the striker turned from hero to villain in the span of ten minutes.

The gifted attacker opened the scoring three minutes into the match from an indirect free-kick, after Paolo Pascual, who earned a rare start in goal, inexplicably handled a back pass deep inside his box. Porteria looked to have doubled the lead ten minutes later, but amidst the celebrations, it was revealed that the forward had deliberately used his hand to score. The goal was subsequently disallowed, with Porteria being shown a straight red for his troubles.

Capitalizing on their man advantage, Global equalized on the half hour mark, with new signing Charles Pettys heading in Misagh Bahadoran’s cross. The go ahead goal came seven minutes later, with center back Valentine Kama bundling in from a corner kick. The second half saw Global dominate proceedings without really threatening Kaya too much, which Australian coach David Perkovic took solace in despite the disappointment of defeat.

“I’m extremely proud of my boys,” said Perkovic after the match. “I can’t ask for more than what they gave.” The Australian also had some harsh words regarding the decision to send Porteria off. “What OJ did was wrong and we’ll deal with that internally. But if this referee is refereeing again next week, it will be a farce. Decisions like those cost championships.”

After suffering a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Loyola in his opening match, new Global coach Leigh Manson was happy to get his first win for the club, but was hardly getting carried away. “It feels better, the three points, than the last game,” he said “We’ve had majority of the ball, but we’re not creating enough. We want to excite. We want to play good football, but of course we want to win games.”

On Porteria’s sending off, Manson said, “I’d have to see that again, but red was perhaps a bit harsh. Kaya did very well with a man down.”

Read the full post-match report from the UFL here.

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