Must-win Friday for Azkals
AN all-important match stares at the Philippine national men’s football team today that has a lot of implications on whether it advances to the next round of the ASEAN Football Federation Suzuki Cup or not.
Facing defending champion and currently undefeated Group A leader Thailand, the Philippine Azkals need to win in their 8 p.m. match at the Philippine Sports Stadium in Bocaue, Bulacan, to secure outright the final semifinal spot up for grabs.
A draw or a loss would not do them any favors as such leaves them precariously hanging or worse out of the running.
Currently, Thailand is the lone team from Group already assured of a spot in the last four of the biennial tournament, co-hosted this year by the Philippines and Myanmar, with six points from two victories.
The Philippines is second with two points from two draws previously with Singapore and Indonesia.
The two latter teams are joint third with a point each and with similar records of 0-1-1.
Singapore and Indonesia battle today at the Rizal Memorial Stadium at 8 p.m. with the winner possibly claiming a semifinal spot and ousting the Philippines in the process.
The Azkals enter today’s game off a mighty stand against Indonesia where it came back to force a draw and keep its Suzuki Cup bid alive.
The Philippine side found itself in an early hole when Indonesia scored at the seven-minute mark care of defender Fachruddin Wahyudi Aryanto.
Veteran Misagh Bahadoran, however, would punch the equalizer for the Azkals in the 31st minute and force a 1-1 tie at halftime.
Indonesia was once again first to take the lead in the second fold of the match with captain Boas Salossa on the firing end at the 68th minute.
With their campaign on the line, the Azkals scrambled to get back the point they allowed and were rewarded when captain Phil Younghusband found the bottom of the net at the 82nd minute to tie the knot anew at 2-2.
The two sides tried hard to get the go-ahead point and the win but time would catch up on them to force the draw.
With an uphill task on their plate, Azkals coach Thomas Dooley said they will make sure that they come in prepared against Thailand, recognizing that the War Elephants would not allow themselves to be beaten easily.
“We will be ready against Thailand. We know that they would not pull anything back against us,” he said.
Mr. Dooley and the rest of the Azkals are asking the Filipino fans to rally behind them as they try to dig deep and get back to the semifinals of the Suzuki Cup where they have been a staple in the last three editions.
Meanwhile in Group B, playing in Yangon, Vietnam (2-0-0) continues to lead with six points followed by Myanmar (1-0-1) and Malaysia (1-0-1) with three points each. Cambodia (0-0-2) is at the bottom with no points to show for so far.