By Kevin Estrada
MANILA--Four days after being on the wrong end of the 6-0 title clincher by Ceres, Team Socceroo suffered a déjà vu of sorts.
Kaya added more insult to their injuries after firing four first half goals and then adding three more in the second half as they steamrolled into a 7-0 win in the United Football League on Wednesday night at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
A hattrick by Tishan Hanley, a brace by O.J. Porteria and a goal each for Alfred Osei and Kenshiro Daniels was instrumental to Fabien Lewis’ wards as they brace for a more-important match-up with rivals and dethroned champions Global on Saturday.
Three days after losing to Stallion after grabbing the lead, Lewis made adjustments to a seemingly light opponent when he fielded Matthew Silva in goal and reinserted longtime club captain Aly Borromeo, who came off the bench in recent matches, to the starting lineup.
It only took six minutes for Kaya to draw first blood as Hanley heads it off Daniels cross past Baba Sampana’s net.
Thirteen minutes later, Porteria doubled the advantage as he scores off another Daniels pass.
In the 22nd minute, Osei became the latest receipient of Daniels nice pass to triple the advantage. And at the half hour mark, Porteria completed his brace with a chip past the Loyola keeper to put the result behind any doubt as the first half comes to a close.
As if the match was already settled already in the First Half, Kaya kicked another notch in the second half, bringing in Jorge Butron for Diego Barrera in order to boost their goal difference coming in to Saturday’s classic encounter.
And in the 55th minute, Daniels scored a deserving goal after being a provider for three of their four first half goals. Almost twenty minutes later, Hanley have his brace with another header to make it 6-0.
The indiscipline of Team Socceroo took a toll on their performance as Justin Mengane was given marching orders for his second bookable offense four minutes from time when his frustrations having to much on him by involving into a scuffle with Porteria and Chris Greatwich.
And to add another salt into their wounds, Hanley had his hattrick into the first minute of added time for the full-time score.
Kaya’s win not just forced a three-way tie into second place alongside Global and Loyola, it also set up a tasty Saturday when these teams play to determine the runner-up for the league.
The race for second has a lot of implications for the AFC Cup qualification especially if Ceres, which already booked a trip to the group stages, wins the UFL Cup as well. A slot for the AFC Cup qualifying stage awaits the winner of the UFL Cup, but it will be given to the league's runner-up if Ceres, the league champion, also clinches the cup.
For Socceroo, Coach Kleng Cacacho only had one substitute, goalkeeper Cedric Hodreal, in his lineup for this match.
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