Kaya forges AFC Women’s Champions League draw

Hali Long: Kaya captain. Her team is competing in the AFC Women’s Champions League.  —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Kaya-Iloilo battled College of Asian Scholars of host Thailand to a scoreless draw on Sunday to begin its campaign in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women’s Champions League in Pathum Thani.

The winner of last year’s Philippine Football Federation Women’s League had its share of great chances to score and also came close to conceding at least one before the two sides were forced to share the spoils in their Group B encounter at Pathum Thani Stadium.

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It’s a valuable result at this point of the competition for Kaya, which is aiming to qualify into the knockout stage with either a top two finish or become the best third placer from among the three groups.

Kaya, captained by national women’s team mainstay Hali Long, plays Iran’s Bam Khatoon on Wednesday.

Close calls

Bam Khatoon fell, 2-1, to Australia’s Melbourne City, which took the group lead after the first match day by taking the maximum three points.

Charisa Lemoran’s left-footed free kick almost put Kaya in front in the 27th minute, but her attempt was saved by College of Asian Scholars keeper Yada Sengyong using her fingertips.

College of Asian Scholars, representing Thailand by virtue of being this year’s Thai Women’s League champion, nearly went ahead when Kanyanat Chetthabutr appeared to have beat Kaya keeper Inna Palacios from outside the box with a looping chance.

But the ball bounced twice and hit the crossbar which left Kaya with a huge sigh of relief.

Dionesa Tolentin also had an opportunity to produce the opener in the 38th but her right-footed shot went straight to the Thai goalie.

Palacios was busier late in the second half as College of Asian Scholars tried multiple attempts to score, to no avail. INQ