Cedelf P. Tupas
RANGOON – A resolute Philippine side came tantalizingly close to another famous victory away from home only to be given a dose of its own medicine.
Rescued by late equalizing goals so many times in the past, the Azkals were the ones to yield Monday – this time to Myanmar – and settled for a 1-1 stalemate at the start of the group qualifying phase of the AFC
Challenge Cup at the Thuwana Stadium here.
James Younghusband gave the Azkals the lead with a well-taken penalty kick in the 76th minute to silence the crowd of about 5,000, but Khin Maung Lwin saved the home side’s blushes with a free kick in the
second minute of injury time.
It was a heartbreaker of sorts for the Azkals, who defended stoutly in the opening half before producing timely, dangerous counter-attacks in the second half.
Three minutes of injury time, however, was enough for Myanmar to carve up a scoring chance.
Skipper Myo Min Tun fell to a soft challenge from Greatwich and Khin rolled the ball under the Philippines wall and beyond Neil Etheridge at the bottom corner.
The stadium exploded on Lwin’s late goal, while the Azkals left the pitch in despair just after the final whistle.
It was the third straight draw for the two sides in the past four years, the other two ending on scoreless stalemates.
The Filipinos are still on track of claiming one of the two slots staked from this group for the main tournament next year. The Filipinos play Palestine on Wednesday and Bangladesh on Friday.
“It was the correct result,” said Azkals German coach Hans Michael Weiss. “We dominated the second half but we were too defensive in the first half.”
The Azkals had Neil Etheridge to thank for a string of impressive saves in the opening half, while Angel Aldeguer Guirado impressed in his Azkals debut with his pace and trickery.
It was Guirado’s lofted ball for substitute Yanti Barsales that proved vital in the play that led to the penalty.
The oldest member of the squad at 38-years-old, Barsales, coming in for nephew Ian Araneta at the start of the second half, had been causing trouble for the Burma defense with his speed and he was first to latch unto Guirado’s ball, forcing the Myanmar keeper to go off his line and unleash a clumsy challenge that led to a red card and a penalty.
Younghusband, who was also on target in the 1-2 defeat to Mongolia last week, sent substitute keeper the wrong way.
A small group of Filipino fans in the stadium waved flags and exchanged high fives as the Filipinos moved a goal ahead with a man advantage.
Guirado nearly doubled the lead with a stinging shot just outside the box three minutes later, while substitutes Yannick Tuason and William Espinosa found themselves with plenty of space, but could not muster a
good chance that could have sealed the victory.
The Azkals were the better team in the second half as Simon Greatwich and Aly Borromeo pulled the strings at midfield while Guirado and James Younghusband provided the attacking threats together with Barsales.
Playing with renewed purpose after hardly mustering a clear-cut chance in the first half, the Azkals started making inroads on attack in the 66th minute when Greatwich managed to receive Younghusband’s cross only for his effort to be blocked by a phalanx of Burmese defenders.
Another chance went begging a minute later when Barsales’ close-range effort went over the bar, before Guirado forced a corner by using his exquisite touch to elude two defenders.
Those moves proved to be a portent of things to come and the sustained pressure for nearly 10 minutes finally paid off with Younghusband’s goal.
The Azkals played the 4-2-3-1 formation for the first time with Anton del Rosario pairing up with Rob Gier at the back and Borromeo moving up to play the holding midfield spot with Greatwich.
With the midfield clogged, the Burmese side raided the flanks and conjured at least seven chances from either side in the opening half.
Midfielder Pai Soe had Roel Gener beaten in the ninth minute and found himself in a one-on-one opportunity against Etheridge. But he sent his shot wide.
Soe had another effort flying past the goal two minutes, before testing Etheridge with a long range effort in the 14th minute.
Guirado, who plays third division in Spain, was providing the early threat for the Azkals and his scintillating 20-yard run highlighted by a couple of stepovers showed why he was a worthy replacement for Phil
Younghusband in the starting 11.
The Azkals were on the backfoot for almost the entire first half before coming to life in the second.
“The first half I did not recognize my team because we have Myanmar a lot of space,” said Weiss. “Myanmar could have been away from us in the first half, but we made changes in the second half.”
Myanmar’s tough-talking Serbian coach Milan Zivadinovic expressed disappointment over his squad’s performance.
“I know you are not happy with the result,” he told Burmese reporters. “I’m also not happy with the result but I have many more questions for players on what happened in the second half. We should have been up,
3-0, in the first half.”
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