ALTHOUGH still winless and hogging the bottom, Kaya-Iloilo coach Colum Curtis aims to give the hometown crowd “something to smile” about when the club plays the fancied Yokohama Marinos of Japan tonight at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium.
“I really do hope we can send the crowd back home with a smile,” said Curtis yesterday on the eve of their AFC Champion League Group G clash against the crack Japanese club at 7 p.m.
The Kaya-Iloilo booters suffered a 0-3 loss to the reigning J League champions last month in Yokohama after holding their fancied opponents scoreless in the first 30 minutes.
With some tweaks, the Northern Irish mentor is hoping his charges can finally pick up a draw or first win in four outings before local fans, whom veteran defender Simone Rota, also present at the press briefing, urged to come out in droves.
Given the pedigree of their foes, the coach acknowledged that beating the Marinos would be difficult “but we have belief in ourselves and have worked very, very hard since then.”
Curtis added that he and his players aim to squeeze every edge they can get, including the fact that the Marinos are not accustomed to playing on artificial pitch and coming in from cool weather in Japan just last Sunday.
“Although we lost against them (Yokohama), I was still pleased with the way we played. We have to reinforce more things going into the game, we have more things to work on and do better,” he said.
Playing in front of a huge crowd at the historic 12,000-seat arena would be a plus, he said, adding that even some of his relatives are coming over to watch the Philippines Football League champs in action.
Rota, who is back in harness with the Philippine Azkals under German coach Michael Weiss, is banking on the Kaya-Iloilo defense to withstand the expected Yokohama onslaught in front of the Filipino gallery.
“Defense is all about proper communication and if we can do that tomorrow then we have a better chance against Yokohama,” Rota noted.
Up against the hometown fans, playing on an unfamiliar pitch and relatively humid conditions, Australian Yokohama coach Kevin Muscat said his wards are prepared for their match against Kaya-Iloilo.
“We now have a bit of understanding on what to expect and, yeah, it was difficult a couple of weeks ago and will be difficult tomorrow night. But we look forward to the game,” Muscat said.
With his team in a close three-way tie for first with South Korea’s Incheon United and China’s Tsandong Taishan with six points each, the Aussie tactician stressed that he and his squad wasn’t even thinking about the team standings.
“The other teams are irrelevant, our focus is on our game against Kaya-Iloilo tomorrow,” he said. “Our energies and focus will be on Kaya. Our preparations are about leaving the Philippines with three points. We are not looking at any other game.”