Pinoy booters confident against Young Lions
SINGAPORE — Philippine U-23 football coach Marlon Maro emerged from a midday, closed-door strategy meeting with his team looking composed and relaxed.
Maro’s demeanor belies a herculean task his boys need to accomplish tonight: Beat a fired up Singapore side in a Group A match that kicks off Team Philippines’ campaign in the 2015 Southeast Asian Games here.
The contest begins at 8:30 p.m. at the Jalan Besar Stadium with Maro confident of an upset against the Young Lions, the bronze winners in the 2013 edition of the meet in Myanmar.
“For me, in this competition, every team is capable of beating other teams. We have ideas of the team (Singapore). We studied their games through tapes and hopefully that will be accurate,” said Maro, whose modest goal is to send the team to the semifinals in only the second time in the SEAG’s 59-year history.
“We’re confident of getting the three points against Singapore. We are ready as planned. We’ll make surprises.”
Spearheading a youthful team composed of players from the collegiate ranks and the United Football League, Maro shared the blueprint to victory.
“Based on tapes, there are certain portions of the match that we’ll be attacking, but most of the time, we have to secure our goal first and then we’ll manage our attack,” said Maro, whose team is making a SEA Games comeback after being denied two years ago by PH sports officials.
Maro is unfazed by the fact that the 8,000-seater stadium is expected to be filled with local fans forming a sea of red shirts.
“We’re expecting that the crowd will be unanimously in favor of the hosts, but I know we also have a good number of Filipinos who’ll watch the game,” Maro said.
With an estimated 170,000 Filipino permanent residents and workers here, Maro can expect support from their own version of the 12th man, especially that game day falls on a holiday, Vesak day, a holy day for Buddhists.
The favored Young Lions won’t show up only to lose in front of their compatriots, however.
“We had a good final preparation phase which really helped to raise the fitness levels of the players, and the boys are now working hard to reach their peak,” Singapore team coach Aide Iskandar said in a report by Channel NewsAsia.
“The team spirit is very good and the players are focused and raring to go for their match against the Philippines.”
Looking to make Singapore’s 50th founding year celebration extra special, Aide made sure no stones are left unturned to whip his boys into fighting form.