2 KEY GUYS OUT IN PH DUEL VS TAJIKISTAN
GUANGZHOU— The heavy 8-1 defeat to China last Wednesday night only cranked up the pressure on the Philippines to secure a victory against Tajikistan in the AFC Asian Cup Qualifying in Dushanbe next week.
But the Azkals will be missing key personnel for the match as leftback Jeffrey Christiaens and winger Pika Minegishi were omitted from the squad of coach Thomas Dooley before the trip to the Tajik capital on Friday.
Christiaens complained of swelling on his knee after the match. Misagh Bahadoran, who scored the lone goal for the Azkals at Tianhe Stadium, initially thought he had injured his knee again after limping off against China, but tests showed it was only a minor knock, which he can recover from in time for the Tajikistan game.
James Younghusband, meanwhile, sustained a sprain ankle early against China and had to be substituted.
The Azkals’ defensive frailties were exposed by China and skipper Phil Younghusband vowed they won’t allow themselves to be caught in the same situation again.
“If we play like we did against China then we’ll struggle to get a result in Tajikistan,” said Younghusband. “Winning Tajikistan was a must before the China game and more so now because we need to get the result of [China] out of our heads.”
On the back of a busy schedule in the Philippines Football League, the Azkals only had two training sessions under coach Thomas Dooley before they battled China in the friendly, which also saw the Azkals mentor give newcomer Camelo Tacusalme playing time at centerback.
“I was pretty much lost for words in terms of the result,” said Younghusband. “We were quite embarrassed to be honest, but we have to be positive because there were some good things in the game and also things we need [to] improve on.”