The 1-1 draw between Kaya and Loyola: That gaping hole in the back and the heart for a comeback.

The 1-1 draw between Kaya and Loyola: That gaping hole in the back and the heart for a comeback.

by rick olivares

After a thrilling 1-1 draw between Kaya and Loyola, Santi Araneta, president of the former asked me, “So, do you think we still need a coach?”

Araneta’s grin was from ear to ear. Why not? It was a well-deserved result for Kaya that outplayed Loyola for much of the match before coming back with about 10 minutes left to grab a badly needed draw and a point in the standings.

My answer to Araneta was: “Of course.”

We laughed and I headed down toward the Kaya bench to chat with Sean Illif and other players.

In the first 10 minutes of the match, Loyola threatened to score. But Kaya began to assert itself on offense on a tactical oversight by the Sparks.

It seemed that Loyola was so intent on attacking that they forgot to track back and defend.

This play by Kaya accounted for nearly all their attempts in the match.

The right side of Kaya (the left flank on Loyola’s defensive half) saw them overload with one attacker (Alu Kigbu or Anton del Rosario) taking on Roxy Dorlas. The wingback (Eddie Mallari) would run up in support with another midfielder running in the middle to form a triangle.

If the first attacker broke past Dorlas, he would launch a cross to the center of the box. If not, he would pass to the middle where usually it was OJ Porteria.

Porteria had two options – a third was the pass back – send another ball inside the box or make a lateral pass to the middle.

Think about it – Kigbu, Del Rosario, Porteria, and Mallari. That’s speed on the wings. That is what made Kaya dangerous in the 2011-12 season.

The overload caused Dorlas to be left on his own. Rodrigue Nembot would be engrossed with stopping Eric Dagroh. Matthew Hartmann would drift too far in the middle that by the time he needed to recover, Kaya was in a position to take a shot.

Practically 90% of Kaya’s attempts came from this unprotected side. Even the free kick from Woody Ugarte came from a foul in that area.

In my opinion, I thought that Loyola was slower on defense. This should have been addressed at the half by maybe playing a 4-4-2 instead of their 4-2-3-1. Because of the hole on Loyola’s left side, they were oft defending and having to clear the ball. This took away much from their offense.

Masterful game plan by Kaya that they executed to perfection. Even when they went down 1-0 from a brilliant scuffed shot goal by Phil Younghusband, they stuck to what they were doing and equalized (off a header by Sean Illif).

Illif, who has been playing great of late asked me, “Is this where we turn things around?”

I smiled. “Let’s see what happens in the next game then we can make that decision then.”

We both laughed.

TAKE A LOOK AT THIS PIC. I HAVE MANY MORE LIKE THIS. LOOK AT THIS LARGE TRACK OF SPACE WITH MATT HARTMANN DRIFTING TOO MUCH THE MIDDLE.