Azkals and Indonesia in key Suzuki Cup clash
THE PHILIPPINE men’s national football team and Indonesia collide in an important group stage match today in the ongoing 2016 ASEAN Football Federation Suzuki Cup at the Philippine Sports Stadium in Bocaue, Bulacan.
Held to a draw and lost, respectively, in their openers at the biennial tournament last weekend, the Philippine Azkals and Indonesian Red and Whites are out to get a victory in their 8 p.m. encounter to give their campaigns a boost.
A loss, however, will deal a major blow to their Cup bids.
Despite facing an undermanned Singapore side in their opening Group A match, the Azkals failed to capitalize on the opportunities presented to them en route to slumping to a nil-nil draw. It was something that the entire team rued about, recognizing it allowed a golden chance to slip away.
Indonesia, for its part, battled defending champion Thailand hard in the opener. While they fell behind, 2-0, at halftime, the Indonesians rallied in the first 11 minutes of the second half, scoring two goals care of captain Boas Salossa (53’) and defender Beny Wahyudi (56’) to knot the score at 2-2.
But the War Elephants were not to be denied of the win with captain Teerasil Dangda scoring two goals after at the 79th and extra time – in addition to the first he connected at the 36th minute of the match — to complete a hat trick and, more importantly, help his team to the 4-2 victory and the three points that go with it to top Group A.
“We want to go to the next round and for that to happen we have to get results and win over Indonesia in our next game,” said Azkals Coach Thomas Dooley in underscoring the importance of their game against the Red and Whites today.
“We have to play better and capitalize on our opportunities because we know after coming off a loss Indonesia will go all out in our game,” he added.
For Indonesia coach Alfred Reidl, facing the hometown team will be a challenge but they are determined to notch the victory.
“It will be difficult for us as they (Azkals) will have the home advantage. They beat us two years ago, 4-0, in a terrible match for us. So we will try to do a better job against them,” he said.
Preceding the Philippines-Indonesia game is the match between Thailand and Singapore at 4:30 p.m.
Meanwhile, in Group B in Yangon, Myanmar, Malaysia and Vietnam were winners in their opening matches on Sunday.
Malaysia beat Cambodia, 3-2, while Vietnam defeated host Myanmar, 2-1, to take early leads in the standings.
In 2016, the Philippines and Myanmar are co-hosting the AFF Suzuki Cup.