Azkals brace for AFC game versus Nepal

Philippine Azkals keeper Neil Etheridge preferred to look at the positives from the disappointing scoreless draw with Malaysia and take it to Tuesday’s AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers game against Nepal.

“The clean sheet (in the friendly against Malaysia) is obviously a foundation you can build on,” said Etheridge, who’s back between the sticks after missing the Azkals’ campaign in the 2016 AFF Suzuki Cup due to club commitment.

The Azkals failed to convert despite dominating possession most of the way against Harimau Malaysia but generally drew good remarks from their solid defending.

The team has five days to fix its flaws and sharpen its finishing skills before kicking off its campaign in Group F of the Asian Cup Qualifiers with a home game at Rizal Memorial Stadium.

“The main game is next week and we look forward to getting in the training field, ironing out some mishaps that happened. It’s definitely good to have a (warm-up) game like that moving forward,” he said.

The Walsall custodian maintained that the Azkals’ spirits weren’t dampened by the result of the Malaysia friendly.

“It’s good. The mood in the camp is great and we look forward to the next game,” he said.

“We get back to training and hopefully, we can put up a better performance, score more goals and like I said, we kept a clean sheet (in the Malaysia game) and that’s the main thing for us,” he added.

Etheridge’s positive outlook is shared by coach Thomas Dooley, who essentially liked what he saw from the Pinoy booters in the tuneup.

“I’m happy with the performance of the players; they played very well, it’s just that we couldn’t finish. If we can manage that, then we’ll be okay in the Nepal game,” Dooley said.