Kaya FC-Makati Looks to Snap PFL skid against Ilocos United

Kaya FC-Makati at Ilocos United FC

Kaya FC-Makati is aiming to continue their mastery over Ilocos United in the Philippines Football League, with the hopes of ending a streak of six games without a win. The match takes place tomorrow afternoon, 4pm, at the Elpidio P. Quirino Stadium in Ilocos Sur.
“The journey was the same as last time, quite long, but we’re used to it now. The boys are just resting up, and physically and mentally preparing for the game tomorrow,” said Kaya defender Julian Matthews on the seven-hour bus ride from Metro Manila.

Although Kaya FC- Makati is currently sitting within the top four of the PFL standings and facing a team they’ve already beaten three times this season, head coach Noel Marcaida isn’t taking the contest lightly in the slightest.

“The players must feel that hunger to win the game. We need to make sure that our trip here to Ilocos will be worth it,” he said. “We’ve been performing well, but we want more desire, and more focus in finishing in front of goal. For those last six games, we didn’t win, but we created lots of chances. So I think going forward to tomorrow’s game, if we create the chances, we need to score.”

Although Kaya’s last visit to Ilocos yielded a comfortable 4-2 victory, the last meeting between the two at the University of Makati was a close contest, one that needed an 81st minute goal to decide the winner.

“Down at Kaya, especially in that second game, where we lost 2-1 — again, we conceded to a corner — but if we put that kind of performance in, anything can happen, especially on home turf,” said United goalkeeping coach Andy Pederson, who will be in charge in tomorrow’s game, in place of the suspended Ian Gillan.

The match will also feature the first opportunity for Charlie Beaton to face his former side, since his recent transfer to Ilocos United from Kaya.

“The boys [at Ilocos] have welcomed me with open arms. The training’s been positive and it’s been helping me as a player. I look forward to the game tomorrow,” he said. “It’ll be a tough game. They definitely have a lot of strong players. They’re quite high up the table, so I’m just excited to be on the pitch and play against my former teammates. I think they have a lot of technical midfielders, very gifted players, and a very strong front line, so we’re expecting a tough game.”

Meanwhile, Kaya is preparing for a physical test against the home side.

“We try to key in on their strikers as they’re quite physical, and we’ll be keeping an eye on their pace out wide as well. But I think with our back line, we can cope with them, same as last time,” said Matthews.

“In the past three games, it’s always been a physical game,” added Marcaida. “They are one of the teams that never stop playing until the final whistle.”