Quincy Kammeraad exorcised some demons by winning the 2023 Copa Paulino Alcantara final with Kaya-Iloilo last Saturday at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
Kammeraad, Kaya’s 6-foot-1 goalkeeper, saved spot-kicks from Davao Aguilas-UMAK duo Yannick Tuason and Serge Kaole.
And his heroics helped the 2023 Philippines Football League champions prevail 4-3 on penalties after the game finished 1-1 after extra time.
It was a fairytale ending for the Dutch-Filipino stopper as two years ago, he was part of the Azkals Development Team that lost 1-0 against Kaya in the final.
“We worked hard for how many months, how many years to play finals like these. If you see the penalties, they speak for themselves. I had a lot of training on penalties. I did my research on them and I think it paid off now for me,” he said.
“It’s not my first day in the league. I’ve been watching them for a long time, especially Paolo Bugas with all the older games back in Global and Davao, and the same with the other players. This helped me. We’ve been discussing the penalties with the goalkeeper coach if ever this happened.”
Truth be told, Kaya was the more dominant team throughout the contest. The LBC-backed club had multiple chances to win the game in the first 90 minutes.
However, Davao drew first blood thanks to Yannick Tuason’s header in the first half.
Tuason’s opener made Kaya more alert when it came to their defense. Kaya eventually found an equalizer as Arnel Amita put the ball at the back of the net midway through the second half.
Cup finals are always tense affairs as the underdog has every chance of winning it. Thankfully for Kaya, Kammeraad’s heroics – as well as Jovin Bedic, Daizo Horikoshi, and Audie Menzi’s spot-kick conversions – gave them the win.
“This is what you’re doing it for — winning trophies and winning games. I’m happy I can be important for the team,” he said.
“You can basically just flip a coin, you’ll have more chances of winning it. Davao was holding on very well until the 120th minute. I think winning it on penalties on our end is just a relief.”
Kaya will have one more game to play before the end of the year. It will host South Korea’s Incheon United this Wednesday at Rizal Memorial.
Winning against the K League 1 side but Kammeraad and his teammates will go for it.
“Obviously, you want to end the year with two wins,” he said.
