Earlier today, the AFC Cup 2021 Draw took place virtually at the Asian Football Confederation House in Kuala Lumpur. Filipino club Kaya FC-Iloilo were drawn into Group I of the competition, where they will face Shan United FC or Ayeyawady United FC from Myanmar, Terengganu FC from Malaysia, and Geylang International FC from Singapore. The group stages are scheduled for June 22-28 at a centralized location soon to be finalized.
Even from his living room, General Manager Paul Tolentino represented Kaya today and expressed his excitement over the results of the draw.
“We’re especially excited that we potentially get the chance to play against our former striker who is at Terangganu FC. We know Shan United quite a bit, we played them last year and we’ll be looking forward to playing them again. Geylang will be a new opponent for us. However, we are quite familiar with the clubs in Singapore.”
In Terrengganu, not only will Kaya possibly face former striker Jordan Mintah (PFL Golden Boot Winner in 2019), but also Philippine international and former Ceres Negros mainstay Carli de Murga. Meanwhile, Shan United would prove to be an interesting rematch, as the Burmese Champions look to avenge their 2-0 loss in last year’s group stage. Kaya could also face Geylang for the first time, with the Singaporean club playing in their first AFC Cup since 2010.
“Really interesting group and excited to play AFC Cup again,” said Kaya head coach Yu Hoshide. “Burmese and Singaporean clubs are familiar for us but we don’t know a lot about Malaysian clubs, which will make it a nice experience too. Preparation will be the key to winning, so we will try our best to push for the title.”
2021 would mark the 4th AFC Cup run in Kaya FC’s history. Previously, the club exited in the knockout round in 2016, then failed to progress from the group stage in 2019, before having their 2020 slate prematurely halted due to the pandemic. This year, the Iloilo side look to pick up where they left off last season when they went undefeated in all three of their matches before play was suspended.
However, all of this will be irrelevant if Kaya can manage to gate crash the Champions League with consecutive upsets in the qualifying round. The preliminary stages feature a key match against Australia’s Brisbane Boar, the winner of which will then face China’s Beijing FC.
“We’re excited to get the AFC Cup 2021 going, but before that, we should be allowed to dream,” added Tolentino. “Let’s go Brisbane, let’s go Beijing!”
Should the club pull off the two wins, instead of playing in the AFC Cup, Kaya will join the continent’s elite in the AFC Champions League Group Stage, which will be held in April.
https://www.kayafc.com/news/kaya-fc-iloilo-drawn-into-group-i-of-the-afc-cup-2021/
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