By Alder Almo
A bloodied Philippine Azkals side yielded a close 2-1 loss to host Thailand in the opening of the Group A matches in the 2012 AFF Suzuki Cup at the cavernous Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.
Physically battered at the start, the Azkals battled the War Elephants toe to toe in the first 37 minutes only to surrender a goal in the next minute that started their fall.
Showing precision in their short passing game, a three-touch combination by the Thais led to a beautiful goal by Jakkapan Pornsai right at the goal’s mouth as Phl keeper Ed Sacapano was caught by surprise.
Stunned by the goal, the Azkals let up again on defense as the War Elephants doubled their lead in the span of only two minutes.
Anucha Kitpongsri outraced the Azkals’ back four in a counter-attack and baited Sacapano to move out then calmly went to his left to avoid the Phl keeper before slotting in the goal that put more pressure on the visitors.
With so much talk on the Azkals’ rise since gate-crashing the Suzuki Cup semis two years ago, the Thais showed the visitors that they are in for a dogfight this time around.
Phl’s star striker Phil Younghusband got a nasty cut above his left eye inside the first 10 minutes of the match before midfielder Jerry Lucena got hurt at the back of his head in a mid-air collision. The physicality of the match left the Azkals in total disarray in the first half.
The momentum, however, shifted to the never-say-die Azkals in the second half as they pulled one back despite Phil and James Younghusband taken out.
Singapore match hero Marwin Angeles came in for Phil at the start while Patrick Reichelt substituted James in the 60th minute that proved to be a stroke of genius.
Five minutes later, Thailand's star Teerasil Dangda left defender Juani Guirado with a bloodied mouth with his wayward elbow that, curiously, only drew a yellow card from the Japanese referee. That incident only fed the Azkals' desire to get back at them with a morale-boosting goal.
Reichelt made his presence felt. Fresh off the bench, substitute's pace posed problems for the Thais and his swift cross found an unmarked Paul Mulders, who scored his first international goal in the 76th minute.
Suddenly, the Azkals were energized and became the aggressor constantly attacking and challenging the War Elephants’ defense.
But just as Phl is making progress in the match, the unthinkable happened. The Azkals’ German coach Hans Michael Weiss was sent off for tossing the ball to a fallen Thai player on the ground.
Phl booters tried to rally behind their coach but failed to capitalize on one chance after another as the War Elephants parked the bus. Thailand continued its mastery of the Philippines on the pitch extending their head-to-head record to 16-1, their lone loss to the Filipino booters coming in more than four decades ago – a 3-1 defeat in the 1971 Merdeka Games.
Despite the loss, Weiss took it as a good result for the Azkals, whose last goal against the War Elephants prior to this match was way back in 2004 Tiger Cup.
“Our couple of changes in the second half paid off,” said Weiss during the post-match interview.
Facing a possible suspension with his ejection, Weiss remained upbeat on the Azkals’ chances against Vietnam, whom they defeated 2-0 two years ago that paved the way for "Azkal-mania".
“It’s not the best situation. We’ll try to make the best out of it,” Weiss added.
The Azkals are now facing a must-win situation in their next two matches starting off against Vietnam on Tuesday before wrapping up the group stages on Friday versus Myanmar to repeat their semifinals appearance in 2010.
Thailand took the provisional lead in the group with three points while Vietnam and Myanmar are tied with one point each after their 1-1 draw in the curtain-raiser. The top two teams in the group will advance to the crossover, home-and-away semifinals.
