zkals United, a selection of current and former members of the Philippine national men’s football team, gallantly battled to a 1-all tie against third-tier South Korean club Icheon Citizen FC, only to lose in a penalty shootout, 4-2, in a charity match Saturday night at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium.
The Philippine side, which was playing without some of its top players because of United Football League commitments, bucked a 21st minute goal by Icheon striker Bin Tae Kwan, remaining aggressive throughout the match. Azkals mainstays Misagh Bahadoran and Chieffy Caligdong had opportunities early in the second half, but were unable to capitalize. Filipino-German Dennis Wolf, who was making his Azkals debut, also had several attempts that did not bear fruit.
Scoring Summary
Azkals United Icheon Citizens FC
Marwin Angeles (89') Bin Tae Kwan (21')
Still, Azkals United kept on the attack, and Marwin Angeles, a member of the Under-23 national squad, broke through with a goal in the 89th minute to equalize.
The rules of the friendly provided for no extra time after 90 minutes of play in case of a tied match, necessitating a penalty shootout.
The South Koreans knocked in all four of their penalty shots, while Angel Guirado, the first taker for the Philippines, and Carli de Murga, the last, missed their respective attempts. Chieffy Caligdong, who served as the captain for the match, and Ruben Doctora, a former national player, made their attempts for the Azkals.
Azkals coach Hans Michael Weiss said he was happy with the result. “I want to congratulate the team, despite the loss,” he said, noting the fighting heart of the team during the comeback.
The proceeds of the match are set to go to victims of tropical storm “Sendong,” which affected thousands of families in southern Philippines. It was the second charity match played by a selection composed of Azkals players this month. On January 7, a Philippine selection dropped a 3-1 result to CF Internacional de Madrid.
Interaksyon
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It's pointless to call Icheon FC a "third-tier club", because there are only two tiers in South Korean professional football system, K-League (1st Div.) and National League (2nd Div.). Knowing K-League is the most consistently strong side in AFC Champions League it may be surprising that they have only two tiers, but it's understandable in that they export a lot of players to other countries' leagues, and that South Korea is basically much more of baseball-crazy country when it comes to domestic sports.
ReplyDeleteApart from the two professional tiers, there is a nationwide amateur league called K-Challengers League, where Icheon FC belongs to, so it may not be technically wrong to call them a 3rd tier club. However, Challengers League is run independently from professional leagues and therefore there's no promotion/relegation to/from upper leagues. So in this case, "3rd tier" doesn't mean what it's supposed to mean, and actually there is a huge gap between 2nd and 3rd tier. Even University League teams in general of South Korea are much stronger than Challengers League clubs.
This is why i was disappointed when i first knew Azkals were inviting Icheon FC. At first i thought it was Incheon United FC (K-League) or at least Incheon Korail FC (National League), but later i found out that it was ICHEON, a completely different small city from INCHEON, and I was like "WTF?? They're just amateurs! It's a charity match on home soil! Not just a practice match! Then bring some stronger opponent!!". But now i realize that, without some key players, Azkals are no better than pure amateurs from S.Korea.
A shitty game. Both sides sucked tonight.