The final of the second season of the

Copa Paulino Alcantara The Copa Paulino Alcantara, also known as the PFL Cup, is an annual association football, football tournament in Philippines, sanctioned by the Philippine Football Federation. The cup's first iteration began on September 1, 2018. It replaced the P ...

will be contested by Ceres–Negros and

Kaya F.C.–Iloilo Kaya Futbol Club–Iloilo (, also known as Una Kaya Futbol Club, Inc.,) is a Filipino professional football club based in Iloilo City. They play in the Philippines Football League (PFL), the highest tier of football in the Philippines. The club ...

on 16 November 2019 on neutral ground at the

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Background

are the defending champions of the Copa Paulino Alcantara having won the inaugural tournament in 2018 while Ceres–Negros are the league champions for the 2019 season. Both teams topped their groups in the group stage and advances to the semifinals. This marks the first time Ceres-Negros advances to the knockout stages after failing to do so in the previous tournament. Ceres-Negros overcame Stallion Laguna 4–3 away from home at the

while Kaya–Iloilo won 3–0 over

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at the

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to secure a berth in the final. Kaya–Iloilo also secured the second slot for Philippine clubs at the

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since their final opponents already clinched the first by winning the league title. The final will be held 16 November 2019 on neutral ground at the

, Laguna. Ceres–Negros enters the final with a 28-match undefeated streak when league matches also taken into account.

Route to the final

Match summary

The 2019 Copa Paulino Alcantara final was contested in the

, Laguna. At the time of the final, Ceres-Negros were considered the underdogs as majority of their first-team players ( Carli de Murga,

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, Jose Elmer Porteria and

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) were on international duty for the Philippine national team in the

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, trimming the squad size down to 14. Kaya–Iloilo, on the other hand, had a full-strength squad and were also the defending champions, having won the

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, and were looking for revenge after Ceres beat them 3–0 on the last matchday of the

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season. The match was an even affair with both sides having equal possession of the ball until Senegalese forward Robert Lopez Mendy struck off a deflection from Louie Casas. Kaya then had majority of possession, with

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, Jordan Mintah, and

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coming close to finding the back of the net. The half ended 1–0 in favor of Ceres. In the 2nd half, Kaya retained much of the possession but a slick pass from Mendy found Negros-born Tristan Robles, who finished in the 68th minute. Kaya's Copa top scorer Kenshiro Daniels found the back of the net in the 85th minute to reduce the scoreline to 2–1. Kaya pushed for an equalizer but could not find the back of the net. The match ended in a 2–1 in favor of Ceres-Negros. By doing so, they completed the first-ever "Invincibles" domestic season in the Philippine Professional Football era. However, since they already qualified for the

by winning the

, Kaya-Iloilo qualified as they were runners-up in both competitions. Stallion Laguna by being 3rd place in the

season qualify as a standby team should Ceres get through to the

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group stage. Ceres Negros also clinched all three individual awards of the tournament: Robert Mendy won the Golden Boot by scoring five goals in the whole tournament, Roland Muller was awarded the Golden Glove, and Takashi Odawara the Golden Ball award.

References

{{2019 in Asian football (AFC) Final 2019 Copa Paulino Alcantara Final