Weiss left hoping for the best

BY BONG PEDRALVEZ

JAKARTA. – Lack of time, preparation, and, apparently, failure to follow instructions.

All these surfaced in the Philippines 1-2 loss to Timor Leste last Monday, dimming the nationals’ hopes of what seemed liked a promising football campaign in the 26th Southeast Asian Games here.

In a late Tuesday interview at the Sultan Hotel where the Filipino booters were quartered, German coach Michael Weiss looked glum as he dissected the nationals’ second straight loss that virtually knocked them out of a semifinals berth.

"It showed we really had little time to prepare for the tournament," Weiss said.

"You just cannot plug in five of your best players and expect them to have the chemistry with the rest of the players who were there from the beginning of the training," added Weiss, referring to his Europe-based starters such as Manny Ott, Carlos Alberto de Murga and Patrick Heinrichsen, who mostly arrived on the eve of the event’s kick-off last Nov. 3.

Typical was Ott, who scored the lone goal in the country’s 1-3 loss to Vietnam and was replaced in the second half because he could not keep up due to jet lag.

Weiss thought its better to skip intensive practice last Tuesday and instructed the coaching staff to let the players go through light exercises. They resumed their usual workouts Wednesday morning.

Before practice, Weiss met with five of his core players, whom he declined to identify, to sort things out as they brace for their make-or-break match against Laos on Friday.

"Based on what I’ve seen, what we have more is more of an Under-21 instead of an Under-23 team," Weiss said. "If we can keep them together longer and more time to prepare, this will be our team for the 2013 SEA Games.


Malaya