HAD its debut in its new home delayed, Kaya-Iloilo FC did not disappoint its fans when it finally played its first Philippines Football League (PFL) game on its backyard, defeating visiting Davao Aguilas FC, 4-2, at the Iloilo Sports Complex on Sunday.
Kaya, which called Makati City its home for a long time, including the inaugural season of the PFL last year, was towed by the hat trick of Robert Mendy en route to bucking being reduced to 10 men and booking the win, which has given it the early leadership in the second season of the national football league.
Jordan Mintah got the scoring going for Kaya as he scored just a minute into the contest to help his team to the lead.
Unfortunately for Mr. Mintah it would be short night for him as he went down with an apparent knee injury in the 18th minute that saw him being stretchered off the field.
But instead of being rattled by the departure of the forward from Ghana, Kaya would regroup and kept its attack.
It was rewarded for its drive when Mr. Mintah scored in the 40th minute off an error from Davao goalkeeper Nick O’Donnell to take a 2-0 lead at the halftime break.
Davao though would draw first blood in the second half with James Younghusband finding the bottom of the net from a corner kick in the 53rd minute to narrow their deficit to 2-1.
Six minutes after though Mr. Mendy extended Kaya’s lead anew to two points, 3-1, when he headed the ball into the net and beat Mr. O’Donnell.
Tadashi Odawara kept the Aguilas in the game when he converted in the 69th minute to help his team stay within one point, 3-2.
But that was the closest Davao would get to the host team as Mr. Mendy completed his hat trick in the 73rd minute to make it 4-2 and never look back after, even when defender Shirmar Felongco got tossed out late in the contest.
The win was the fifth for Kaya (5-1-2) in eight matches in the ongoing tournament, and fourth straight, for 16 points, pushing Iloilo ahead of erstwhile league-leader and defending champion Ceres-Negros FC (5-0-1) at 15 points.
Davao, meanwhile, dropped to 4-2-3 with 14 points, good for solo third place at the moment.
GROWING PAINS
Meanwhile, while the second season of the PFL has presented fresh challenges in its sustainability, with some pioneering teams deciding not to participate this year and some expressing difficulty in running operations as well as the league drawing flak from different directions, an official of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) hopes league stakeholders rise above these and make what he considers as a “good initiative” work.
“It’s (PFL) a good initiative. There have been more problems than successes to date but I think like anything, be it a league or an initiative, there are growing pains,” said Domeka Garamendi, head of MA Services of the AFC, in an interview with BusinessWorld on the sidelines of the recently held “Business of Football – Philippines” conference.
“I feel the Philippines is starting farther that the others since basketball is the number one sport here and football they say is number three only. So it’s going to be a challenge but it’s a challenge that can be overcome if all stakeholders come together and working in the right direction,” he added. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

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