Karl Decena, InterAKTV
The Philippine national men’s football team downed Singapore, 1-0, to score its second victory against the city-state this year Thursday night at the Cebu City Sports Center football field.
Substitute Marwin Angeles scored for the Azkals, while goalkeeper Ed Sacapaño made timely saves to lift the Filipinos to victory.
The Singaporeans dominated the attack for most part of the first half, making six of their nine shots on target compared to only one of three for the Azkals.
Midfielder Chris Greatwich and forward Denis Wolf made great attempts for the Azkals late in the first half, but both missed.
Singapore then had a chance to score the first goal of the match right before the break, as defender Jeffrey Christiaens fouled forward Khairul Amri inside the box which awarded the visitors a penalty kick.
But Sacapaño deflected midfielder Shi Jiayi’s shot in the penalty, keeping the match scoreless at halftime.
The Azkals came out roaring in the second half, bolstered by substitutes Phil and James Younghusband and Marwin Angeles who all sparked the game for the Filipinos.
Angeles then scored his first international goal at the 54th minute off a rebound on a Patrick Reichelt shot, who received a cross from Phil Younghusband at the right flank to give the Filipinos a 1-nil lead.
The Singaporeans found another opportunity to score at the 74th minute in a free kick outside the box. But Sacapano saved the shot and an attempted rebound goal to deny the visitors the equalizer.
Forward Denis Wolf had a chance to add cushion to the Azkals lead, but his shots at the 79th and 82nd minute failed to hit the net.
Singapore had opportunities at the goal in the dying seconds of the match, only to be denied by Sacapano.
Just moments after subbing in late in the match, striker Ian Araneta then slotted the ball inside the goal to seemingly seal the win for the Filipinos but the goal was disallowed by referees as he was offside.
The victory marks the second time the Azkals beat Singapore this year, with the Filipinos scoring a 2-0 triumph last in a friendly match at the city-state last September 7.
The match against Singapore served as the last game of the Azkals before heading to Thailand for the 2012 ASEAN Football Federation Suzuki Cup this month, where they look to surpass their historic semifinal feat in the same tournament two years ago.
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Step by step. We used to be losers against Singapore. Now twice we beat them.
ReplyDeleteBeating or drawing with Thailand or Vietnam will show how we are improving.
We drew with both Indonesia and Malaysia. Again those were signs of improving. We used to loose against them.
We have to look at this Suzuki cup as a gauge for our NT is we have progress from the 2010 Suzuki team.
I say for now we have.