Just two weeks after ending a 99-year title drought, the Philippine Azkals reached another milestone after forcing a scoreless draw against Bahrain national men’s team in the Al-Muharraq Club Stadium in Manama, Bahrain.
The Azkals showed no signs of backing down against an opponent ranked 32 places higher in the FIFA rankings.
With the veterans meshing well with the key players of the team that won the 1st Philippine Peace Cup formerly known as Long Teng Cup, the 147th ranked Azkals were able to stand their ground against the supposedly stronger 115th ranked Bahrain side.
Dennis Cagara, Jerry Lucena, Paul Mulders, Juani Guirado, Ray Jonsson and second choice keeper Rolland Muller linked up with Peace Cup mainstays Chieffy Caligdong, Marwin Angeles, Patrick Reichelt and Denis Wolf in the Azkals’ initial attack and produced positive results in the first half of play.
Despite almost yielding a goal in the 15th minute, the Azkals came out the more aggressive team with six attempts including four on target, two more than the home team in the first half.
Bahrain almost scored one when Muller lost his handle but Gier was there to clear the ball for the Azkals, who also came close to scoring 15 minutes later. Wolf, who won the Golden Boot and MVP trophy in the Peace Cup, found an opportunity to score in the 30th minute on a counter attack but the Bahraini keeper was up to the task.
The tempo of the match changed a bit in the second half when the Bahrainis came out firing with five attempts, two on target against the Azkals’ lone clear-cut chance courtesy of OJ Porteria.
Porteria, who came off the bench to replace Wolf, almost won it for the Azkals near the 90th minute mark but his attempt from fellow substitute Misagh Bahadoran’s layoff was again saved by the Bahraini keeper.
The draw was already considered a big achievement for the Azkals against Bahrain, whose Under-23 squad dealt the Filipinos two losses via 3-1 and 2-1 scorelines last year.
The friendly capped off their five-day training camp hosted by the Bahrain Football Association. The Azkals are expected to arrive in Kuwait today where Phil and James Younghusband alongside Demitrius Omphroy, first choice keeper Neil Etheridge and hopefully Angel Guirado joining them in the final five days of their Middle East training camp in preparation for the AFF Suzuki Cup.
At full strength, the Azkals will test how far they have improved since losing to Kuwait by 5-1 aggregate score in the second round of the Asian qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup last year.
The Azkals will meet Kuwait again on Tuesday.
I voted for a draw and I was right!!! The way I see it, we played well on defense, got some miscues but able to recover.
ReplyDeleteNot able to capitalized with the chances due to defensive pressure by Bahrain which is normal, but we can execute. So maybe in time we can score.
I like the game between Azkals and Bahrain last night.