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Philippines, 21 Mar 2026 |
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COACH WEISS DISAPPOINTED BUT NOT ANGRY AT HIS PLAYERS By Ronnie Nathanielsz PhilBoxing.com Fri, 16 Mar 2012  Michael Weiss. Philippine Azkals coach Michael Weiss is obviously disappointed that while the team had a 1-0 lead going into the 80th minute of the crucial semi final game against Turkmenistan in the AFC Challenge Cup on Friday, they let it slip away by missing scoring opportunities and giving away two goals on defensive lapses. In a conversation with the Manila Standard after the painful loss, Weiss calmly said ?We know what level we are, and where we are at right now? but tyhe performance throughout the tournament showed what we are capable of. Clearly the absence of the talented and hardworking Angel Guirado and James Younghusband who were forced to sit out the match because of successive yellow cards and the injury to Jason Sabio whose long throw ins are a constant source of trouble for the Azkals opponents hurt the team which forced Weiss to make adjustments. They held fairly firm for almost 80 minutes before being systematically broken down by the youthful Turkmenistan squad which in the end, deserved to win. Weiss is already looking ahead at the battle for third against Palestine realizing that if the Azkals made finals we could have conceded three or four goals to a classy North Korean side with seven players from their World Cup squad to whom the Philippines lost 0-2 in their opening match. Weiss?s dilemma now centres on who to put in goal in place of Neil Etheridge who earned a straight red card for an unforgivable act of kicking a Turkmenistan player on the back of his foot late in the game. Carli de Murga made two sound saves but whether Weiss would want to sacrifice the quality he brings to the game both in defense and in attack remains to be seen considering he was No. 2 goalie Sacapano at his disposal. Weiss wants a victory over Palestine to cap an amazing effort by the Azkals and with James Younghusband, Angel Guirado and Jason Sabio back in the line-up he fancies his chances. A report from the Challenge Cup website said crestfallen Philippines coach Michael Weiss highlighted the two defensive mistakes that cost his side a place in the 2012 AFC Challenge final as Turkmenistan came from a goal down to win 2-1 to reach Monday's showdown. The Philippines edged an entertaining first-half at the Dashrath Stadium and went in to the interval thanks to Phil Younghusband's fourth of the campaign. But with the clock ticking down Arslanmyrat Amanov was given too much space and in the 79th minute the Turkmenistan Player of the Year controlled the ball on his chest before firing low past Philippines keeper Neil Etheridge, who was sent-off in stoppage-time. And with four minutes remaining substitute Roel Gener was caught dithering in defence allowing Guvanch Abylov to rob him of possession and set up Gahryman Chonkayev for the winner. Weiss pinpointed these two costly errors at the post-match press conference but said that the Philippines can bow out with their heads held high. "Mistakes happen but this was a match we should have won," said the German. "However, we have done better than most people expected us to do and we have represented the Philippines very well." Despite ripping up the AFC Challenge Cup form book with Group Stage victories over former champions India and Tajikistan, Weiss was still left pondering what might have been as their dream of a place in the final were ended by the 2010 runners-up. "It's a very disappointing end to the tournament although we still have the third-place play-off and we will do our best to win that," he vowed. "It was an even game with many chances but didn't take those chances. We didn't kill the game off. We settled too deep and didn't deal well with the Turkmen attack. "I wish we could have been more aggressive but also remember that we had three players who started every other match that didn't start this match. It's difficult to compensate for that and with all this I think we were also very unlucky." Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.  |
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