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Philippines, 26 Nov 2024 |
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AZKALS MAUL MACAU 5-0 By Ronnie Nathanielsz PhilBoxing.com Fri, 28 Sep 2012  The Philippine Azkals played near flawless football to maul hapless Macau 5-0 and go on top of the standings in the Philippine Football Federation Peace Cup before a fair-sized crowd at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium on Thursday evening. The performance was a vast improvement from the opening game in which the nationals beat Guam 1-0 on a fortuitous late goal by Patrick Reichelt and set up what may well be a classic encounter against a tough Chinese-Taipei squad which drew with Macau 2-2 on opening day but came back to score a 2-0 win over Guam to earn a total of 4 points as against the Philippines 6 points. The result of Saturday's match will decide the winner of the Peace Cup with a draw sufficing to see the Azkals triumph but judging from the post-match interview of Denis Wolf who scored a hat-trick the Azkals want to go out on a high note and win as Wolf told TJ Manotoc of ABS-CBN Studio 23 where the game was telecast, "I want to win this game for the people." Wolf scored his first goal off a superb ball by young Demetrius Omphroy in the 21 st minute after an earlier miss when off a short corner taken by Christaens he shot wide of the right upright. Ian Araneta who again misfired with a weak header in the 7th minute, mis-timed his run in the 15th before he stumbled in the 24th minute and flubbed a shot on goal in the 28th minute was replaced by Jason Sabio a few minutes later. Wolf got caught by a wicked elbow on his forehead which was bloodied seconds later and he had to be attended to on the sidelines but Macau was also reduced to ten men when one of their players was hit on the back of the head by the ball. Wolf continued to prowl around in the box and was rewarded when he scored his second goal in the 45th minute after he pounced on a loose ball in a goalmouth scramble. Carli De Murga added to the score not long after halftime as the Azkals played some free flowing, attacking football that ripped open the Macau defense and showed the potential of the Azkals side under German coach Michael Weiss even in the absence of ace striker Phil Younghusband and brother James who often carried the scoring load for the Philippines in the past. Wolf got his well-deserved hattrick after a shifty move by OJ Porteria on the right flank. The youngster got around his defender and made a perfect pass to the striker who made no mistake with a well-timed shot to put the Azkals ahead 4-0 against a badly outplayed Macau eleven who rang several changes but could hardly show anything for their efforts. Riechelt rounded up the scoring when he picked up a neat pass from Porterio off a short corner to give the Azkals a 5-0 lead in the 69th minute. Reichelt sent a shot just wide on the 80th minute after Misagh Bahadoran who was obviously aching to score a goal showed uncanny dribbling skills before sending the ball inches wide of the left upright before he was denied by the Macau goalkeeper as he raced forward into the box. Macau had one futile attempt on the counter-attack with the ball being sent harmlessly into the side netting. Bahadoran slipped a pass through to Marvin Angeles with the Macau defender almost adding to their misery with an own goal. When the final whistle blew after two minutes of stoppage time, the Azkals were besieged by fans who enjoyed one of their most attractive and rewarding performances which clearly underscored the reality of the improvement in Philippine football. In post match interview the "Player of the Match" Dennis Wolfe said "This match was very important to us." Asked by TJ Manotoc about his thoughts on his hat-trick Wolfe in a magnanimously correct gesture said "Without my teammates I'm nothing" citing Omphroy and Reichelt even as he stressed that the Azkals "always try to give our best." Coach Weiss expressed the hope that football fans will turn out in large numbers to provide support to the Azkals who are looking to win their first international tournament. Weiss was clearly elated over the win. He said ?It was actually a very nice performance. We can see cohesion in the team that is working together.? Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.  |
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