MANILA, Philippines (1st UPDATE) – The Philippine Azkals lost to the Singapore Lions, 2-0, during their friendly match at the Jalan Besar Stadium Friday.
The visiting Azkals managed to hold the Lions goalless in the first half, but were caught flatfooted by their foes' attacks in the second period.
Shaiful Esah of Singapore gave the Lions a 1-0 lead through a deflected long-range strike in the 50th minute of the game.
The hosts' veteran striker Aleksandar Duric, who has scored more than 300 goals in the S.League, increased Singapore's lead in a counterattack blitz goal in the 64th minute.
The Azkals had several chances at the goal in the first half, with Chieffy Caligdong and Phil Younghusband nearly scoring for the Philippine squad.
Caligdong's goal in the 13th minute was disallowed as the winger was offside, while Younghusband’s free kick was just inches from the goal.
Singapore is currently ranked 136th in the world, while the Philippines is rated No. 166.
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If singapore is ranked 30 places above the Philippines, then why does the headline say "Singapore STUNS Azkals".
ReplyDeleteMy sentiments exactly.... just another example of poor, poor, reporting about the Azkals that we see all the time.
ReplyDeleteOh, please. We need better press than this.
Really people, really? I think its appropiate as the azkals fielded their best team with the exception of Schrock. And this shows that azkals isnt a powerhouse in SEA as many fans think. There is still a long way to go even when we have a strong team like yesterday.
ReplyDeleteYes we are not a powerhouse SEA team. We are 30 spots behind singapore even with Schrock. Given the additions of Lucena and Cagara were around to solidify the back four, i don't know who was thinking we'd blow them out of the water.
ReplyDeleteHence the question, why did the press even think we were a lock to win the game and then go about tagging the article saying "Singapore stuns the philippines".
At least we're no longer playing with ten men back and hoping not to lose by double digits. that was phl football not too long ago. we're much better now, and we did have quite a strong team out there, but we're by no means in a position to expect to win against the likes of singapore on a daily basis and be shocked if we did.
...a 41 year old out-run a younger AZKAL...a had a goal...whew!!!.i'm tired...
ReplyDeleteDuric is an exceptional football player who has roots also in athletic (participated in the summer olympics in 1992....and it's not an coinsident that he scored over 300 goals in the S-league. I also don't understand why people think we win every match just we have some European based players. Other national teams have this also. Like Singapore which has a bunch of naturalized players. We are not far away from then top SEA teams like the match showed yesterday. We had some chances, just failed to convert them. Singapore was the more mature side but had also some problems vs. us. On that level some small differences decide a match. Yesterday it was a deflected ball and an excellent Duric. Next time it can be different again....so we are on a good way....and to make it clear: it needs years to establish and build up a solid team and such suprising result like in the last Suzuki cup won't happen every day.
ReplyDelete"At least we're no longer playing with ten men back and hoping not to lose by double digits. that was phl football not too long ago"
ReplyDeleteSorry mapster, but the only way to determine if those statements are true and to properly gauge the improvement (if any at all) of the local game, then we need to be playing international football with an all homegrown national team. By playing with so many foreign born/based and trained players, it doesn't show if we really aren't whipping boys anymore. Don't get me wrong though, I think it's great that we have so many foreign born players to call up that can make us competitive.
@anonymous
ReplyDeletei get what you're saying. and sad to say, without all the fil-foreign talent, we might not have gotten very far.
But we have them playing for the PHL team and hopefully it sparks some interest in the youth. In the future, we can hope that the kids can aspire to be the next Chieffy or Aly Bor.
Right now, everyone (or most kids) wanna be like Manny P or James Yap. Also, it helps that we have a fledgling league going, as nascent as it is, but it now gives football players some form of continuing their careers beyond college football.
now im certain simon are better tactician than weiss. i wonder what will he achieve with current crop of player? maybe we can beat kuwait
ReplyDelete