Growing in confidence and looking more
comfortable with its free-flowing style, the Philippines seeks a second victory
in the Paulino Alcantara Peace Cup against Macau tonight at Rizal Memorial
Stadium.
Although they left several clear-cut
chances begging, the Azkals played some attractive, dynamic football for long
stretches in the 1-0 victory over Guam Monday night.
They hope to show more of the same—albeit
with more clinical finishing in front of goal—in the 7:30 p.m. match against a
Macau team that produced the shock result of the tournament so far when it held
Chinese-Taipei to a 2-2 draw.
The Azkals have won their last two
meetings with Macau in this tournament formerly known as the Long Teng Cup with
their last victory coming last year when Chieffy Caligdong scored both goals in
a 2-0 win in Kaohsiung. Ian Araneta also struck a hat-trick in the 5-0 thumping
of Macau two years ago.
But coach Michael Weiss said past results
hardly matter as Macau had shown some quality game in the match against
Chinese-Taipei.
“It’s a team that is on the rise and we
can’t take them lightly,” said the German. “We have to win the game and if we
win that game, we will have a very good position to win the tournament.”
Nonetheless, Weiss expects plenty of
improvement from the performance against Guam, which the Azkals peppered with 19
attempts, including 10 shots on target.
The Guam match marked several milestones
for the Azkals with three players earning their first senior appearance in
Demitrius Omphroy, who was impressive operating on the right flank, and
midfielders Matthew Uy and Marvin Angeles. Midfielder Anto Gonzales also got his
first start since the 2007 AFF Championship.
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