Football
John Duerden, Asia correspondent 5y

'Revenge in the heads' of Home United after Singapore's loss to the Philippines

KUALA LUMPUR -- Just days after the Philippines dented Singapore's 2018 AFF Suzuki Cup chances with a 1-0 win, clubs from the two countries found themselves drawn together for the 2019 AFC Cup.

Should Home United of Singapore fail to progress through the qualification stage of the 2019 AFC Champions League, the S.League team will take on Kaya F.C. Iloilo of the Philippines in Group H of Asia's second-tier club competition.

"If we are going to play a team from the Philippines again then maybe there will be revenge in the heads of some of the players after the AFF defeat and that will be healthy," Home United team manager Mohamed Farid Angullia told ESPN at AFC House in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.

Home United were ASEAN zonal champions in 2018 defeating Ceres Negros of the Philippines in the final in August but are looking forward to the challenge that Kaya present.

"It is good if we play a new team in the Philippines," the official added. "I am not saying they are better or worse than Ceres but this is a good challenge for us."

Kaya Iloilo are also looking forward to taking on the Protectors.

"Obviously this is not going to be an easy group," said Kaya Team Manager Paul Tolentino. "We are with the defending zonal champions of Southeast Asia in Home United.

"They played against Ceres Negros quite a lot last year and we had an opportunity to see them.

"We are quite friendly with their management team too. We are happy with the challenge and all about measuring ourselves in Asia.

"We want to go as far as we can. We know that the teams here have quality but we feel we can match them."

Kaya and Home have also been drawn with Lao Toyota of Lao and a yet to be confirmed team from Indonesia.

Singapore's other representative Tampines Rovers have been placed in Group F with Yangon United of Myanmar, Hanoi FC of Vietnam and Cambodia's Nagaworld.

Ceres-Negros, in Group G, will take on Myanmar's Shan United, Becamex Binh Duong of Vietnam and Indonesia's second representative.

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