The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
“A great opportunity lost.”
That was how the final twenty-one minutes played out for the Philippine Azkals at the Rizal Memorial football field.Thailand was reduced to ten men for almost half of the second canto but the Philippines lacked the offensive flair to score the goal it desperately sought.
The result was a scoreless draw at the start Saturday night of the two-leg semifinals of the biennial AFF Suzuki Cup. “The Filipinos lacked the finishing touch,” said an analyst over Fox Sports television. “It was unfortunate that as the home team, they couldn’t exploit it.”
The only piece of good news for them was that the Philippines’ losing streak is finally over, and will play in the Thai capital without this burden and free to play a creative, more free-wheeling game.
The question they have to answer though is, “Is this good enough?”
Striker Phil Younghusband was the recipient of two excellent passes inside the box in the closing minutes, one by Misagh Bahadoran. But he couldn’t convert on both attempts, his first a wide header while the other bounced off a defender crowding the goalmouth.
His first shot on goal came in the 42nd minute on a free kick from 30 feet out. Younghusband got another shot on goal at the 71st minute but was easily foiled by Thailand’s keeper Kawin Thammasatchanan.
“I think we showed today we could compete with teams like Thailand,” Younghusband told Yahoo sports. “Our defense and our midfield played so well today that’s why Thailand didn’t score.”
“We’re happy with the result. If we get a goal in Thailand then it counts double. If we can get a score draw, we’ll advance.”
The Filipinos will now play in Bangkok in a few days’ time for the final leg, facing the possible wrath of the Southeast Asian powerhouse that has beaten them in football 14 times since 1972.
Tom Dooley’s charges face an uphill battle, but the outlook is far from dark and desperate.
“They are very much in the game,” said a Fox sports analyst. “The pressure is on Thailand now.”
Before this game, the Thais had embarrassed the Azkals in a friendly by a one-sided, 3-0 score. Under coach Kiatisuk “Zico” Senamuang, the Thais mightily brushed past the Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Myanmar, 2-0, last Saturday in Singapore.
The winner in this pairing advances to dispute the Suzuki Cup against the winner of the other semifinal series pitting Malaysia against Vietnam. One thing going for the Thais is that they have never lost in the group stage, and the scoreless draw marked the first time they were held and had gone scoreless in this year’s tournament.
The Thais have been playing devastatingly well, leaving little speculation about their ability to knock off the Azkals on their home turf. On Saturday night, their delicate passing game was often on target inside the box but it went missing starting the 69th minute.
That was when the referee red-carded Adisak Kraisorn after a hard tackle on the Filipinos’ best defender, Amani Aguinaldo, during an aerial battle for the ball.
Aguinaldo frustrated a number of Thai offensive forays with his tough style that bordered on what one analyst said was rough play. “He is a red card waiting to happen,” said the analyst on Fox Sports.
Instead, he was the recipient of what looked like a deliberate elbow as Adisak, who raised his right arm, brought it down, sending the Filipino defender in pain on the ground.
Zico, interviewed before the game, admitted that his team faced an acid test against the Azkals. “We know the Philippine team has a good technique,” he said. The Filipinos stormed into the semifinal round for the third time after in the tournament by ripping Laos, 4-1, and crushing Indonesia, 3-0.
He did not underestimate the Filipinos. Younghusband , Bahadoran and Martin Steubel—the last carryovers of football-playing Fil-foreign players—led the Philippine offensive against the tough-defending and fluid-moving Thais.
The Filipinos controlled possession for the rest of the way, even after coach Dooley took out starters Paul Mulders and Simone Rota to put more muscle into their offense.
The Filipinos, the analysts observed, played a lot better and with greater confidence than they did in their 3-1 loss in Hanoi against the Vietnamese. They had three goals on target, 55 percent possession and not a single yellow or red card. Thailand had one goal on target and one yellow card and one red card.
“The draw is okay for our team. We’ll go back to Thailand and win there,” said Thailand coach Kiatisuk Senamuang told Yahoo sports. “Many of my players are youngsters. They just came from the Asian Games. They learned a lot of things today. They learned about red cards and how to play with 10 men.”
Thousands of fans braved the overcast skies to fill the stands in support of the Azkals, who won praise from Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. as a showcase of “Filipino athleticism, skill and determination.” An unexpected Palace statement issued on Saturday said, “We are cheering for them from the sidelines and hoping for a victory.”
It was hard to come by.
Team manager Dan Palami said that Vietnam’s form against the Philippines proved that “playing in front of a home crowd can really fire you up.”
It worked that way for the Filipinos, whose defensive tactics worked so well in the first half, anchored by the tall tough-playing Aguinaldo, who harassed and slowed down the Thai strikers.
Starting 11 for the Azkals: Phil Younghusband, Daisuke Sato, Martin Steuble, Rob Gier, Manuel Ott, Patrick Deyto, Amani Aguinaldo, Jerry Lucena, Paul Mulders, Simone Rota and Misagh Bahadoran.
For Thailand, starters were Narubodin Weerawatnodom, Charyl Chappuis, Sarawut Masuk, Suttinan Phuk-hom, Kawin Thammasatchanan, Sarach Yooyen, Tanaboon Kesarat, Chanathip Songkrasin, Kirati Keawsombut, Kroekrit Thaweekarn and Peerapat Notch.