MANILA, Philippines (5th UPDATE) -- The Philippine Azkals lost the game to Mongolia, 1-2, but they still advanced to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Challenge Cup group stage by winning the tie, 3-2, on goal aggregate.
The Philippines took an early lead via a James Younghusband goal in the third minute of their match that took place at the Mongolian Football Federation (MFF) Football Centre in Ulan Bator.
Mongolia, however, pulled one back in 21st minute through their skipper, Lumbengarav Donorov.
The hosts stormed ahead in the 34th minute, after Garidmagnai Bayasgalan scored on the rebound off a penalty.
The Azkals showed better defense in the second half to prevent another Mongolia goal.
The match in Ulan Bator was the second of their 2-leg qualifier for the Challenge Cup.
Phil Younghusband, who played a big role in the first leg of the qualifier, failed to finish the game after suffering a pulled hamstring.
Azkals coach relieved
After the game, Azkals coach Hans Michael Weiss gave a sigh of relief, citing that it was not an easy match for his boys given the tough conditions in Mongolia.
“If all of you guys from the Philippines would have been here, [you] would understand… because we have tough and harsh conditions, minus 10, minus 12 degree [Celsius],” he said.
He said the weather noticeably slowed down the Azkals, thus affecting their reaction time.
“It is just normal, the players also were not happy with the performance but I told them that we have to be realistic and these conditions are not like in some tropical areas,” said Weiss.
“In the end, I'm happy that we're through,” he added.
Weiss, meanwhile, said that Phil will have to take a couple of weeks' rest because of his injury.
Final statistics
The final stats showed the Philippines attempting 12 goal shots aside from enjoying 7 free kicks. Mongolia had 16 goal attempts and 6 free kicks.
The Blue Wolves also incurred 2 yellow cards while the Azkals were meted just 1.
Aside from enduring the cold weather, the Azkals also had to shake off their bad experience in Japan, which was struck by an 8.9 magnitude earthquake last week.
The Azkals won the first leg, 2-0, at the Panaad Stadium in Bacolod City last month.
The following will be the tentative schedule for the Azkals’ Group Stage games (all games to be held in Myanmar):
· 3/21 (Mon) - PHI vs. Myanmar, 3:30 p.m.;
· 3/23 (Wed) - PHI vs. Palestine, 3:30 p.m; and
· 3/25 (Fri) - PHI vs. Bangladesh, 6 p.m.
The Philippines-Mongolia match will be replayed on Studio 23 at 7 p.m.
The match will also be shown 3 p.m. on BALLS SkyCable Ch. 34.
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22 hours ago
That was too close!
ReplyDeleteIt's fine wanting to play attacking football but you have to make sure you don't lose - especially in knock-out competitions.
I think we should go back to the safer (and more successful) style we had under Simon M.
When we have 5-10 years of football grassroots development behind us then we can look to play with more flair.
Pushing forward all the time leaves too much room for the opponents to counter-attack.
Congrats on progressing though.
not the best game, but mission accomplished... good =)
ReplyDeleteIt was indeed too close. Just goes to show we have a long way to go. I hope Phil is ok, he doesnt have much time to recover. I'll take Weiss' excuses this time as i dont think we will playing another game in those conditions in the near future. But I still think we werent playing smart and that could be attributed to the manager's control of his team.
ReplyDeleteOn the game, iam just so surprised no one even commented on the first goal. To me it was offside. When the mongolian made the run ("perfectly timed" as the cliche loving announcer called it, i still think the commentators are very raw and are too used to covering basketball games) he may have been onside as the free kick was taken. Thing is, another mongolian headed the ball on and at that point the guy who scored was 2 yards off side. The last defender was the one nearest him and played him offside perfectly (not ball watching as the other commentator said). You can see the reaction of our players all raising their hands. I know it doesnt make any sense complaining against a non call for players and coaches but the thing is no one in the commentary box raised any protest which i find surprising as this is what the commentators are around for so that Filipinos can appreciate the rules and just not accept whatever happens as part of the game. As commentators they are given leeway to protest on a non call just like any other sport. Did anyone see any Azkal play that mongolian onside? I would like to be mistaken but ive looked at the goal several times and there was no one.
2nd goal to me was a defensive error. Sabio was first on the ball and he was indeed sluggish as he let the quicker Mongolian outflank him and get ahead. He should have just toe poked it away for a corner. Thats what experience will give you. Hopefully he will learn from that as any coach would point out to him.
However, our keeper didnt look sluggish at all, sort of bellying Weiss claim. If the keeper wasnt sluggish , what more the field players? Sacapano was active, quick off his line and was very brave as the Brit commentator noticed. I feel it was a decent performance, not outstanding but decent. The pace on the first goal was terrible and I dont think even etheridge could have stopped that. And the penalty was parried only for our defenders not to clear up the mess. Now thats where they should have been accused of ball watching. Ive seen more experienced defenders already run into the box as the penalty is kicked and by the time it got blocked someone should have at least challenged the tap in. I feel Sacapano did a decent job, he is not as lousy and inept as a lot of people say he is. The female announcer commented that he should have done better as he got a hand on the ball which I think is not reasonable. Any keeper will tell you how hard it is when the ball is hit that hard. It that was gonna be saved the keeper wouldnt know anything about it. It would probably just hit him in the head or something and deflect away but i dont think he did badly.
Overall, it seemed we didnt use our passing game too much. you could see flashes of it so i dont see why we just stopped doing that and started to play a little wildly. Seemed to be a bit of panic settled in when the Mongols equalized. The Azkals suddenly were jolted as they realized they were in for a game. What would have been good is to see them move the ball around better. Even when the score was 1-1 the opposition still needed three goals to win so i think they shouldnt have panicked. I know that its easier said than done with them freezing their asses off but you cant say they were never prepared for it. Its the lack of overall team experience that made the outcome risky. The more I think about it, the more I doubt the weather factor but like I said, I will take weiss' excuses this time.
I also agree with the first anonymous post. Its post mortem but its spot on. We should have played a better passing game, maybe even a more defensive approach. If we established that which I know we could, they wouldnt have gotten so shocked when the Mongolians equalized. By the 70th minute, the Mongolians were also done, there was no way they were gonna get more goals and it looks like our superior conditioning kicked in. Anyway, all good. Were through..but at the risk of ruffling more feathers I say..dont hold your breath too long in Myanmar where we will be playing much better teams.
ReplyDeleteStudio 23 should have gotten seasoned football commentators. We need to get more people to understand the beautiful game. With comments like that, it's going to be tougher to get the message across. Growing pains, I suppose.
ReplyDeleteDo the posted game times above refer to Myanmar or Phil time zone?
ReplyDelete