24 September 2011

Azkals rout Kaya Cignal, ready for Long Teng Cup

By Alder Lamo

MANILA, Philippines – The Long Teng Cup-bound Philippine Azkals used a strong second half to dominate United Football League’s Kaya Cignal FC, 5-nil, Saturday at the end of the I Can Serve Foundation Football Invitationals before a sizable crowd at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium.

The Azkals gained much needed confidence and cohesion with their new lineup heading into the 4-nation Long Teng Cup which is scheduled on Sept. 30-Oct. 4 in Taiwan.

Mark Hartmann opened the scoring parade of the national squad in the second half via penalty kick in the 55th minute. The 19-year old Fil-British striker sailed his attempt above Kaya Cignal’s wall defense to score the stunning goal.

Fil-Spanish Angel Guirado, who just arrived from a brief vacation in Spain two days prior to the match, made the second goal with a crossover fake off his defender at the 67-minute mark of the match. Three minutes later, Chieffy Caligdong followed up a saved shot by Kaya Cignal’s goalie Saba Sadeghi to hike Azkals’ lead, 3-nil.

Phil Younghusband, who aggressively attacked Kaya Cignal’s defense all throughout the match, finally gained ground with two goals – a great feed from his brother James in the 82nd minute and the final goal four minutes later.

Fil-German goalie Roland Muller also made a good account of himself in his debut with the team, saving four attempts of Kaya Cignal as Sudanese striker and the UFL leading scorer Izzeldin El-Habbib was held scoreless.

“I am satisfied with our game especially in the second half. We struggled in the first half as I gave Angel [Guirado] some playing time, one day after coming back. Phil and James [Younghusband] played great especially James on defense,” Azkals coach Michael Wise said.

It was a fitting follow up to Azkals' opening 3-2 win against UFL Cup champion Global Smartmatic last Wednesday.

The national team will leave for Taiwan on Wednesday.

philstar

8 comments:

  1. It was no penalty kick...

    Yes. Izzo was held scoreless , but he is playing for Global and not Kaya :)

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  2. Penalty kick soaring above a defensive wall?
    C'mon Mr Lamo; at least learn some basic rules of the game before you write about football again.

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  3. WTF this journalist should do their homework. Alder Lamo you look stupid on this article. IZZO was not playing Alder, he belongs to another team. Last ka na lang ha.

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  4. sya din ba yung nagsabi ng paolo del rosario? :(

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  5. sya nga pala.. tsk tsk. ano ba yan. http://www.philstar.com/SportsArticle.aspx?articleId=728971&publicationSubCategoryId=200

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  6. "made the second goal with a crossover fake"

    parang basketball ah. haha

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  7. Mark Hartman should be our designated player to take free kicks. Twice ko sya nakita magscore ng ganon. Phil should step aside. I know Phil is still our highest scorer but he needs to learn to share/pass the ball to a more open teammate especially Mark Hartman who is equally talented striker. Don't force the issue Phil. You can be a better player if you learn to pass some more. Philippines will be much stronger if you do.

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  8. saving four attempts of Kaya Cignal as Sudanese striker and the UFL leading scorer Izzeldin El-Habbib was held scoreless -- ANO DAW??? He's playing for GLOBAL and not KAYA hahahah! sino ba tong writer na to? mali mali!!!

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