How Kaya’s nifty game plan pulled the rug from under Global

Suddenly… Kaya

How Kaya’s nifty game plan pulled the rug from under Global

by rick olivares pic by mark dimalanta/interaksyon

The shoe feels good on the other foot. Kaya knows what it is like to cough up leads. Most notably to Loyola two years ago and most recently to Pasargad when Emmanuel Mbata scored in the 78^th minute for a 2-2 draw.

In this most trying season where they got off on the wrong foot, Kaya is slowly making up for lost ground. This time, it’s them who have made a habit of coming from behind.

There was that Janrick Soriano strike deep in stoppage time for a 2-1 win against Green Archers United. And there was Sean Illif's late equalizer against Loyola. And now, there’s that epic come-from-behind 3-2 win over erstwhile-unbeaten Global.

How did Kaya defeat Global?

Kaya outworked Global in the last 80 minutes.

You can see that they wanted this more. Maybe Global was a little overconfident more so after they went up 2-0 with barely 10 minutes played. Maybe they felt it was going to be a goal fest and it was. Only not in the manner they figured.

Kaya never stopped working to get the ball.

If you want to beat Global you have to outwork them. Of course, it is easier said than done. Their conditioning is superb. You hardly see anyone go down from cramps and they can run all night. Kaya ran at them. Tackled them. Knocked them down a bit albeit not intentionally as this is not their game. But it did knock Global off their rhythm.

Kaya picked up a page from where Loyola left off and disconnected Global’s midfield. For the second consecutive match, Yu Hoshide, Ben Starosta, and Carli De Murga were rendered mostly ineffective. Masa Omura took out good friend and compatriot Hoshide, Jonah Romero and Chris Greatwich hounded Starosta not giving him much to work with.

Essentially, Kaya took away the ground game of Global that was greatly improved under new head coach Brian Reid. They never relented on the pressure and got themselves a huge win.

David Perkovic had an excellent game plan and he stuck to it.

First, the Australian started Nick O’Donnell in the biggest game of the season and that takes balls. Regular starting keeper Saba Garmaroudi has long been one of the best goalkeepers in the league. The thing about Kaya under Perkovic is they have a pool of over 20 players and no one on that pool can take a day off in practice. You have to be at your best because someone else will start.

I’m not really a fan of their current back four save for Steady Eddie Mallari who has become marvelous at the right back spot (I used to not like that) and at first, it looked like Kaya would pay for not starting Dario Dakic, Junior Muñoz (out with food poisoning), and Omura on defense.

But you have to credit Fabien Lewis and McDaniel. Once they got over the slow start played better.

Normally, some might press the panic button and make substitutes early in the game after going down 2-nil. I felt that if by the 20^th minute, Kaya had still not stabilized their offense, Perkovic should have made a change. But Kaya got things under control and denied a third goal to Global.

Second, his midfielders cancelled out their Global counterparts. I mentioned that previously. But with Angge Guisso out with an injury, playing in the back was Jason De Jong.

In my opinion, not a good idea. He works better as a defensive midfielder and not a defender. He got pressed a lot by Kaya. No midfield. Not much ball movement.

Third, they were aggressive inside the box. Kaya kept attacking in waves and in numbers that it stretched the defense and forced them to spend more time fending off attacks that launching counters. The midfielders and forwards even had to go down and help out. Kaya had 12 shots on goal to the eight of Global (the majority taken during the first 10-15 minutes).

Fourth, he saved OJ Porteria for last.

Porteria has been one of the best footballers since he returned from an injury during the UFL Cup.

His speed and creativity are blinding. Perkovic unleashed him just when Jerry Barbaso got tired from dealing with all the incursions from his side as well as the middle of the box where he had to help out.

It didn’t help Global as the next three Perkovic substitutions are all high-energy players in Dario Dakic, Sean Illif, and Janrick Soriano who almost scored again.

The injuries to Roland Sadia and Ed Sacapaño hurt Global’s chances to win the game

Yes, they sure did; unfortunate as it was.

When Logan McDaniel fired a wicked free kick towards the Global goal, Sadia blocked it. As he fell, he thrust out his arm to cushion the fall but in the process hurting himself. Normally, he is quick to the ball or even to recover. With Masa Omura quickly breaking away from the wall and Sadia unable to move, Kaya pulled back one.

This reminded me of that Kim Hyo Il free kick against Loyola a few days earlier that clanged off the first post with Rufo Sanchez quickly moving in to hammer home the shot. Each time, the defense was caught flat flooted.

Even when the defense takes an off night (and that is unusual when it comes to Global), Sadia is there to clean up the mess. No Sadia. Enter Ed Sacapaño in his debut for Global.

Only he also got his scalped scraped by Alu Kigbu’s studs putting a bathing cap on that can be cumbersome and distracting for a goalkeeper. Ed was a trooper for Global.

Nate Burkey reminded everyone that he can play

The much-maligned Burkey came out with a great performance to cancel out the great showing by Reichelt. He picked off a bad pass and scored on a rebound. That’s two goals where he had the presence of mind to move and score.

We’ll see in the second round how this springs Kaya and how this spurs Global.

For sure the second round will be even more intense as teams try to work their way to the top.

The upset win allowed Stallion to finish atop the league table at the end of the first round with a 8-0-1 record while Global feel to 7-1-1. Loyola is at third with a 6-2-1 slate. Kaya stayed at fourth with a 4-3-2 record (unless Pachanga can win their final assignment of the round by at least eight goals).