The final of the second season of the

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

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 Philippines, Filipino professional association football, football club based in Iloilo City. They play in the Philippines Football League (PFL), the highest tier of foo ...

on 16 November 2019 on neutral ground at the

Biñan Football Stadium The Biñan Football Stadium is a track and field and football venue in Biñan, Laguna, Philippines. On October 28, 2015, the Biñan city government and the Philippine Football Federation signed a memorandum of understanding agreeing that the s ...

Biñan Biñan (), officially the City of Biñan ( fil, Lungsod ng Biñan), is a 1st class Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, component city in the Provinces of the Philippines, province of Laguna (province), Laguna, Philippines. According ...

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

Mendiola Mendiola Street (simply known as "Mendiola") is a short thoroughfare in Manila, Philippines. The street is named after Enrique Mendiola, an educator, textbook author, and member of the first Board of Regents of the University of the Philippi ...

at the

Aboitiz Pitch The Aboitiz Pitch at The Outlets is a multi-sport venue in Lipa, Batangas, Philippines . Background The Aboitiz Pitch with a 1,500 seating capacity is part of The Outlets at Lipa retail development of Lima Land Inc., a company under Aboitiz Equit ...

Lipa, Batangas Lipa (), officially the City of Lipa ( fil, Lungsod ng Lipa), is a 1st class component city in the province of Batangas, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 372,931 people. It is the first city charter in the pro ...

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

2020 AFC Cup The 2020 AFC Cup was the 17th edition of the AFC Cup, Asia's secondary club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The competition was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic after group stage matches on 11 March ...

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 Laguna (Italian and Spanish for lagoon) may refer to: People * Abe Laguna (born 1992), American DJ known as Ookay * Andrés Laguna (1499–1559), Spanish physician, pharmacologist, and botanist * Ana Laguna (born 1955), Spanish-Swedish ballet d ...

. 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 The 2019 Copa Paulino Alcantara was the second edition of the Copa Paulino Alcantara, the domestic football cup competition of the Philippines. It included 6 out of 7 Philippines Football League teams as well as a guest team, the Philippines U2 ...

final was contested in the

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

Carli de Murga Carlos Alberto Olaivar Martinez de Murga (born 30 November 1988), known as Carli de Murga, is a professional footballer who plays as a centre back for Malaysian club Johor Darul Ta'zim and the Philippines national team. Club career With Span ...

Mike Ott Mike Rigoberto Ott (born 2 March 1995) is a professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Liga 1 club Barito Putera. Born in Germany, he plays for the Philippines national team. Personal life Mike is the younger brother of ...

Sean Kane Sean Kane (born 10 May 1969) is a Scottish actor born in Peebles. He trained in acting at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh. Television and film Sean appeared in the BBC drama ''The 39 Steps (2008 film)'' with Rupert Penry Jones and Eddie ...

Jose Elmer Porteria Jose Elmer "OJ" Porteria (; born May 9, 1994) is a Filipino professional footballer who plays as a winger or an attacking midfielder for Philippines national team. Born in the United States, he is a product of the D.C. United Academy. He ...

and

Stephan Schröck Stephan Markus Cabizares Schröck (; born 21 August 1986) is a professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for the Azkals Development Team of the Philippines Football League. Although primarily a midfielder, earlier in his caree ...

) were on international duty for the Philippine national team in the 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifiers, 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

2018 Copa Paulino Alcantara The 2018 Copa Paulino Alcantara was the first edition of the Copa Paulino Alcantara, the domestic football cup competition of the Philippines. The competition started on September 1, 2018 and concluded on October 27, 2018, with Kaya–Iloilo w ...

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

2019 Philippines Football League The 2019 Philippines Football League was the third season of the Philippines Football League (PFL), the professional football league of the Philippines. Ceres–Negros are the defending champions. This marks the revival of the Philippines Footb ...

season. The match was an even affair with both sides having equal possession of the ball until Senegalese forward

Robert Lopez Mendy Robert Waly Lopez Mendy (born 23 February 1987) is a Senegalese professional footballer who plays as a striker for Philippine club Kaya F.C.–Iloilo. Career Green Archers United Lopez Mendy moved to the Philippines in August 2013 to play in ...

struck off a deflection from

Louie Casas Louie Michael Roble Casas (born 12 March 1986) is a Filipino former footballer who last played as a goalkeeper for Kaya–Iloilo in the Philippines Football League. He previously played in the now defunct UFL Division 1 for Ceres. Casas was a ...

. Kaya then had majority of possession, with

Jovin Bedic Jovin Hervas Bedic (born June 8, 1990) is a Filipino professional footballer who plays as a forward for Philippines Football League club Kaya-Iloilo and the Philippines national team. Early life Bedic was born in Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo—a t ...

Jordan Mintah Jordan Owusu Mintah (born 2 September 1995) is a Ghanaian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Malaysia Football League club Terengganu II. Career In his native Ghana, Mintah has played for Medeama and Emmanuel Stars. He later ...

, and

Kenshiro Daniels Kenshiro Michael Lontok Daniels (born January 13, 1995) is a Filipino professional footballer who plays as a forward for Indonesian club RANS Nusantara and the Philippines national team. He was born in Newport Beach to Hollywood actor and reti ...

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

2020 AFC Champions League The 2020 AFC Champions League was the 39th edition of Asia's premier club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 18th under the current AFC Champions League title. Ulsan Hyundai won their second Champion ...

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