Only scoring one goal in the first half, Kaya turned up the heat by netting 10 times in the game’s last 45 minutes to record a resounding 11-0 win against winless Fleet Marine FC. In doing so, they moved closer in securing a spot in the UFL Cup 2015 quarterfinals at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium.
Louis Clark tallied an overwhelming six goals, including a lone goal that separated the teams at the half. Also in the spotlight is Kenshiro Daniels. Serving as the team’s left winger, the Philippine international provided four assists while also scoring once in another dominant win for the team currently placed fourth in Division I.
Kaya entered the match as staunch favorites to take all three points, having registered convincing wins over Agila and Team Socceroo in their first two UFL Cup matches. They may have controlled the action throughout the match, but the score at halftime did not reflect such mastery.
The current Group B leaders hunted for their first goal right at the get go, virtually limiting the action inside Fleet Marine’s half. The attacking crew of Clark, Joshua Beloya, Jovin Bedic, Kenshiro Daniels, and Diego Barrera were busy in bombarding the stubborn defense of their opponents. Eleven minutes into the game, Beloya whipped a cross from the left flank towards Clark who was standing with acres of space near the six-yard box. As he received the ball, Clark touched it neatly before smashing it into Nevie Tambot’s net. The other chances, however, did not result in a score change. It was Bedic who was the most unfortunate of amongst the Kaya players after all four of his chances did not lead to a goal, two of which were narrowly off target and one saved by Tambot, who himself had a wonderful opening period.
The chance Fleet Marine had in limiting Kaya’s output appeared to be strong as the referee blew the halftime whistle, but the same cannot be said after the restart. Tishan Hanley and OJ Porteria were sent on before play resumed in place of Bedic and Barrera, who did their part but were unable to make their chances count in the opening half.
With only two minutes gone by in the second half, Jorge Butron drilled a cross inside the box geared towards Clark and Hanley. The former chested the ball down inside the box before easily finishing past Tambot to make it 2-0. A minute later, Clark teed up Hanley but the latter was denied by the crossbar. Amidst a sea of Kaya chances came a rare one for Fleet Marine. Gerard Brown found space inside the Kaya half but did not get past Aly Borromeo, prompting Matt Silva to routinely collect the ball. Not long after, Clark grabbed his third by converting the first of Daniels’ assists at the 58th minute, which looked like the goal that sealed another victory for Kaya. At that point the game was virtually over, but Kaya’s attacking rampage only just began.
For most of the game, Kaya occupied the attacking third with the aim of exploiting the waning Fleet Marine defense. Not letting their opponents retain possession into their half, Kaya unleashed a forceful approach on the attack. With 20 minutes left, Daniels fed Porteria the ball inside the box to make it 4-0 for their team. Barely a minute later, Clark broke the offside trap to score an easy goal, his fourth and Kaya’s fifth, in a one-on-one situation against the helpless Tambot. There seemed to be no end in Kaya’s pursuit for more with Clark returning the favor to Daniels, who struck the ball first time into the net at the 75th minute. Not willing to end the game without a goal, Hanley joined the goalscoring party by finding the net twice at the 81st and 88th minutes. In added time, Clark and Porteria enhanced their respective hauls to cap off an efficient second half performance.
In a game of two halves, Kaya Manager Paul Tolentino expressed contrasting emotions in Kaya’s biggest win to date. “[It was a] sloppy game. It was really a bad first half. [I’m] happy the guys came out and played better in the second half and got the goals that they should have put away in the first half, which they didn’t,” he assessed. Tolentino also shared that the coaching staff voiced their displeasure over what they considered was an unprofessional showing in the first half. “Best thing that happened in the first half was the smashing they got in the locker room. I guess they were motivated. Everyone needed to wake up,” he elaborated.
Fleet Marine, already eliminated in the UFL Cup, will avoid going out without a point at the very least in battling Agila this Sunday, May 17, at 6:15 in the evening. Meanwhile, Kaya will eye to top the group by getting a win against fellow unbeaten side Pachanga-Diliman on May 24 at 1:45 PM.
