Kuala Lumpur: The Philippines survived a late score from Timor-Leste to run out 3-2 winners and make it two wins from two matches to start their AFF Suzuki Cup 2018 campaign.
It was Timor-Leste, the nominal ‘home’ side in this encounter, who should’ve taken the lead in just the fifth minute when Nelson Sarmento Viegas was played through one-on-one with Azkals keeper Michael Falkesgaard, but a wonderful save from Falkesgaard denied the Timorese a shock early lead.
It took a while for the Philippines to settle, but when they did they took control of the match and they took the lead on 27 minutes when Phil Younghusband fired home from the edge of the area.
Sven-Goran Eriksson’s side doubled their lead just over five minutes later when Martin Steuble was afforded too much space on the edge of the area, firing home with his left foot past the outstretched hand of Aderito Fernandes to make it 2-0 for the Azkals heading into half time.
The Azkals had a third on 68 minutes when Carli De Murga was left unmarked from Kevin Ingreso's free kick, heading home with ease past Aderito.
But just as the visitors looked to be cruising Timor-Leste got a lifeline when Paul Mulders fouled Nelson in the area, with the referee having no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Nataniel Reis was tasked with taking the spot kick and he made no mistake, sending Falkesgaard the wrong way to claw one back for the Timorese.
Just two minutes later they had a second when Joao Pedro was beautifully played in behind the Philippines defence by Henrique Wilson, rounding Falkesgaard to make it 3-2 with 15 minutes still to play.
But they couldn't find an equaliser for what would've been their first ever point at the AFF Suzuki Cup as the Philippines survived to make it two wins from as many matches to jump to second in Group B behind Thailand.
It is the high-flying Thailand that the Philippines will face next in Bacolod on Wednesday, while Timor-Leste round out their campaign away against Singapore, also on Wednesday.
https://www.affsuzukicup.com/2018/news/highlights/1054-report-timor-leste-2-3-philippines
One of the most important and sensitive positions on the football field have been an area of concern for years now.. Yes its Mulders who is committing most of the fatal mistakes!! Before giving away that cheap penalty, he already had some defensive lapses & would have made an own goal(thankfully it hit the bar). The coaches should have seen that coming, his lack of pace is very evident throughout the game, but they have been so rewarding because of his performance againts Singapore. But then again looking at the bench & there are few defenders available. All in all there where about six defenders & about half are injured to make it worst. I honestly cant blame Mulders, cause you know what???
ReplyDeleteAside from the fact that he is already old, he's not a natural centre-back. Carli, Woodland, Steuble, Ingreso there not
all defenders either, all of them are Midfielders!! Before them we have Jeffrey Christiaens a winger turn center-back,
Dennis Villanueva, Kenshiro Daniels and long-ago Aly Borromeo, who was also converted to a defender out of necessity. The Backline is really the achilles heel of our Nat'l team since the retirement of Lucena, Gier & Juani, nobody was able to fill their shoes. There only replacement was Amani, he is locally produced along with Marco Casambre, but that's all we have at centerback, its not enough.
There's a lot of dirty work available out there specially for the local based players.. Job openings from our Nat'l team for our college players, & the youth, they should realized these. But looking at the UAAP & NCAA, all the guys out there love more jogo than catenaccio sad to say.
Our college stars Gayoso, Miyagi, Tacardon, Borlongan are all attackers. You got Ian Clarino of UP, the MVP & Best defender,
but his not a CB, his a fullback. Watching him at Bangabandhu, he's still raw given' a more central role, he had some defensive lapse & some risky plays, one that lead to an opposition goal. He still needs more maturity, hopefully he improves.
This Centerback crisis with the Azkals have been goin on for years, & the Philippines' lack of quality young central defenders remains a gaping hole in the Azkals lineup. The Front is okey, the Midfield is excellent, the defensive flanks are okey(except the right flank), but our immediate need are central defenders with speed, smarts, physicality and ideally size as well to handle high balls. We need to manufacture them right now. We need to rekindle our Pintados(warrior) mentality and bring to lost art of Arnis, Eskrima and Kali in the pitch.
Look at Thailand for example, right now they are without there big-4(Chanathip, Teerasil, Theerathon & Kawin), but experts say they are still too good againts the likes Vietnam & Indonesia without even mentioning our team.
That is because attacking is just one aspect of there game. They still have there defensive trio captains Chalermpong, Thitipan Puangchan and the nasty Tanaboon Kesarat who operates like how Sergio Busquets operates for Barça. And then there is Pansa Hemviboon & Korrakot Wiriyaudomsiri, Theerathon's replacement. These guys they give the Asian elites(the likes of Tim Cahill, Shinji Okazaki, Shinji Kagawa, Keisuke Honda, Ali Mabkhout etc.) a hard time, i stand in awe watching them wow. Makes me wonder when can we have our own version of this guys, they practice Muay Thai in the pitch. But i do hope we score one & have a good day defensively, God bless Team Pilipinas!!!
i agree will everything. but really the only way for aguinaldo, casambre, clarino (for example) to mature is to play more games with the national team. i'm not saying start them, but put them in the line up, camps, use them during friendly games.
ReplyDeleteYan ang sinasabi ko palagi sa pervious post ko dito. Kulang sa exposure mga youth teams natin sa international stage. PFF are grossly focused only in the Azkals but they overlooked the most important part of building successful players. providing camps and trainings outside the country can enhance and level up our youth and make them battle ready when they step into the Men's zone. We cannot rely on foreign recruits forever and importing talents can never be a long term solution. Our homegrowns are our main gem together with our foreign brothers abroad -it can create a well balanced cohesiveness and dependability. The Miracle of Hanoi was already a history but that line up was more pleasing to the eyes of many Filipinos dahil may homegrowns at Foreign born pinoys playing together as one.
ReplyDeletemay tama ka dapat paunti unti mag develop
ReplyDeletehttps://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4713558743145825034#allposts