By Adrian Stewart Co

Kaya Futbol Club-Iloilo capped off the 2021 AFC Champions League group stage with a close 1-0 defeat to Viettel FC of Vietnam on Sunday night at the Leo Stadium in Pathum Thani, Thailand.

It was a heartbreaker of defeat for the Iloilo City-based football club as they ended their maiden AFC Champions League stint without a win in six games to finish dead last in Group F.

Kaya-Iloilo showed a lot of improvement in their final match as they had their opportunities to score despite Viettel dominating most of the possessions in the opening half.

However, luck was not on the side of the Iloilo City-based booters as Simone Rota and Masanari Omura were slapped with red card in succession decimating the squad to nine men.

Brazilian striker Caique then converted his penalty kick from an Omura foul to surge Viettel ahead 1-0 at the 55th minute mark. Kaya-Iloilo was heavily defended for the rest of the way preventing them from forcing at least a draw.

“We’ve been getting better with every match. I think the biggest takeaway that we have here in AFC Champions League is that we feel like we belong in this level,” said Kaya-Iloilo head coach Graham Harvey.

United City Football Club, meanwhile, failed to score a follow up to its thrilling 3-2 win to Beijing Guoan of China as they suffered a 4-0 defeat to Daegu FC of South Korea at the Bunyodkor Stadium in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Daegu broke the scoreless deadlock at the 37th minute mark on a conversion from Nishi Tsubasa. The lead was doubled early in the second half on a tap-in by Lee Keunho in the 47th minute.

The South Korean football club put the game away for good after Edgar Bruno da Silva converted an emphatic goal at the 57th minute, while Jung Chi-in also made his contribution in the 73rd minute mark.

With the loss, the four-time Philippines Football League champions failed to advance to the knockout stage as they ended up Group I at third spot with one win, one draw, and four losses./ASC, WDJ