PHL Azkals 1, Bahrain 2 in first tune-up match

Emelio "Chieffy" Caligdong shot a goal versus Bahrain's two in the first tune-up game of the men's national football team with the host country's Under-23 Olympic contingent.

"Operating on the left flank, Caligdong unleashed a rocket from nearly 30 yards out that flew into the top-left corner of goal. Bahraini goalkeeper Eyad Nasser Salem had no chance of stopping the well-hit shot, and the Filipino fans erupted in celebration," the Gulf Daily News reported Sunday.

Filipina-Bahraini Zoei Al-Shaikh as Dimples_426 also tweeted the match results from the grandstand of the Bahrain National Stadium in the city of Riffa southwest of the capital, Manama.

Caligdong, an Airman in the Philippine Air Force, scored the goal in the first half of the match.

"We were missing a couple of players here and there, but big credit to our guys who overcame their fatigue and the heat tonight," coach Michael Weiss said after the match as reported by the Gulf Daily News

The next tune-up game will be on July 19 at another venue, the football stadium in the town of Arad on Muharraq Island. Kick-off will be at 12:30am PHL time (7pm in Bahrain).

Bahrain's U-23 team is preparing for the Asian qualifying round of the 2012 London Olympics while the Philippine Azkals are getting ready to meet Kuwait in Round 2 of the 2014 World Cup Qualifiers early morning of July 24.

The Azkals meet Kuwait a second time on home turf on July 28.