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| Kaya FC-Iloilo's coach Yu Hoshide. PFL |
by Drew Malihan
MANILA - Kaya FC-Iloilo's manager Yu Hoshide remained collected during the entire match of his team against Stallion Laguna, where they finished the game in their favor inside the Rizal Memorial Stadium on Saturday.
But the polo shirt-wearing, cap-donning 45-year-old gaffer shows his smile to his players after they confirmed the third goal against Stallion and subbing out some of his key players moments later, exchanging high-fives.
Despite his collected attitude, Hoshide confirms his happiness after the title-clinching game, but asserted his intentions since he arrived at the Iloilo Sports Complex.
"I came here for the championship. I don't want to be the runners-up," said the Japanese.
Hoshide airs that he still wants to end the season with a victory, even as they have already grabbed the title after Stallion denies Dynamic Herb Cebu 0-0 last May 24.
"We just focused on this game today," said Hoshide. "We kinda get lucky with the draw, but even they drew, we still want to win this game. We really wanted to show what we can do."
Daizo and the team's mentality
He lauds fellow Kanto native Daizo Horikoshi, who led Kaya's championship season with his own career-high numbers.
"I'm proud of Daizo as a coach," he said about Daizo. "He really still wants to improve, and I'm the one who has to help him to do more."
"His attitude really tells he wants to improve so we're here to help him to improve," he added.
Hoshide also sung praises on the other Kaya players, whom despite losing to runners-up DH Cebu twice in four matches, showed their mental fortitude.
"We know we got good players," he said. "But on the mental, we're sometimes high or low. If the mentality is low, we all make sure we fixed that."
Future plans with ACL and Copa
The Tokyoite looks forward on their future campaign in the AFC Champions League in September.
"ACL is not easy to win," Hoshide quipped. "We really have to come and prepare for that after this."
However, he wants to give himself and the rest of the team a break after a 10-month long season before the start of the Copa Paulino Alcantara.
"We're having a little bit of rest, relax, but after that we're train again and try our best to win," Hoshide conclued.
Follow him on Twitter: @drew_corner
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