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AZKALS DOMINATE INDONESIA IN 4-0 WIN TO QUALIFY FOR SUUZUKI CUP SEMI FINALS By Ronnie Nathanielsz PhilBoxing.com Tue, 25 Nov 2014  The Philippine Azkals played a magnificent game of football to dominate Southeast Asian powerhouse Indonesia 4-0 to score their first win in 80 long years and with the win, qualified for the Suzuki Cup semi finals in their second game today at the My Dinh Stadium in Hanoi, Vietnam after another impressive 4-1 win over Laos on opening day in which Patrick Reichelt scored two goals in the dying minutes of the game. Coach Tom Dooley?s philosophy of keeping possession and pushing forward with short, snappy passes rather than long balls paid off handsomely as the Filipinos mesmerized the Indonesian midfield players and defenders to serve notice they are an emerging force to reckon with in Southeast Asian football at least. The Azkals suffered an early setback when towering defender Juani Girado had to be pulled out with a hamstring injury which makes him doubtful for the remainder of the tournament but veteran Rob Gier who himself is coming off an injury was his usual solid presence in defense and capped a fine performance with a goal in the 80th minute after a superb corner kick by Manuel Ott who was in tremendous form. Gier?s header was saved by Indonesian keeper Kurnia Meiga during a goalmouth scramble and Gier got his boot to poke it into the net with a classic reflex action. Gier who played for the English team Wimbledon for four years and now plays for Ascot United put the icing on the cake with his opportunistic goal. Misagh Bahadoran who baffled the Indonesian defenders with penetrating runs down the left flank had only the goalie to beat on a dazzling run but was brought down by an Indonesian defender with the referee having no hesitation in awarding a penalty which Phil Younghusband blasted into the right corner with a powerful strike that gave the Indonesian goalkeeper no chance at all to give the Philippines an early 1-0 lead in the 16th minute. Coach Tom Dooley substituted Bahadoran in the 82nd minute as a precautionary measure as the Futsal star was on a yellow card and sent in Simon Greatwich. Jerry Lucena who was solid in midfield and occasionally charged forward to link up with the Azkals offensively, had a chance to add to the tally but instead of taking the shot himself gave Riechelt a low pass which he couldn?t do anything about. As halftime approached Reichelt had a poor strike at goal and then went on his own when he could have passed to Younghusband who was unmarked in front of goal to add to the 1-0 tally. A thundering half-volley by Manny Ott from 20 yards out after Bahadoran ended a strong run and cut inside and passed to Ott gave the Azkals a 2-0 cushion in what was surely the best goal of the match on the 52nd minute. As the Azkals launched wave after wave of attack and the defenders tackled resolutely and showed remarkable anticipation, one of the Fox Sports commentators remarked ?they are enjoyable to watch.? The Azkals got their third goal through Strueble who scored off a free kick in the 67th minute to register his second international goal as the Indonesians were caught napping when Younghusband quickly took the free kick. The Indonesians were reduced to ten men when a Rizki Pora committed a cynical foul on Younghusband who executed a superb turn before he was brought down. But the Indonesian goalie made a great save to deny Phil another goal off the free kick. The Indonesian coach who in a pre-match interview claimed that his team had ?the worst preparation ever? in remarks that stunned the international commentators and studio analysts, shuffled his players in the second half and sent in veteran strikers in an effort to stem the embarrassing tide but except for one or two corners and a Van Dyke free kick that sailed just wid of the post, their efforts that were dealt with confidently by the Azkals even as Indonesia never looked likely to score. In a pre-match interview, prolific goal scorer Phil Younghusband said ?we believe in our ability, we believe in the quality we have under new management with coach Thomas Dooley, we have new players coming in and we feel we have a stronger squad and more depth than we had in 2010 with more quality and ability that can win us games. It?s a different team we have now but we are aware of what happened in the past and in these tournaments anything can happen.? He added, ?previous records don?t mean a thing when there is so much on the line so we have enough belief in our ability that we can win the game.? Asked about coach Dooley who took over from Michael Weiss in January, Younghusband said ?hes? been quite good actually? and noted that under Weiss we played the way he wanted us to play which was more direct but coach Dooley wants us to play shorter and pass the ball more and less direct and wants us to control the game and be in possession of the ball and as an attacking player that suits me because I?m doing more running with the ball and not without the ball. I enjoy my football more this way.? Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.  |
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