The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
The Philippine Azkals blasted its way to the next round of the Asian Cup Qualifiers after blanking Guam, 3-0, in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
The Azkals bounced back from an earlier 2-0 loss to China to assure a third place finish in Group A of the joint qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup and 2023 Asian Cup.
The Azkals had to wait until Maldives’ 5-0 loss to China later in the day to secure a spot in the next phase of the qualifiers for the Asian Cup.
Despite getting the three points, Azkals team captain Stephan Schrock gave his team a mouthful, indicating their performance did not meet Schrock’s expectations.
Azkals coach Scott Cooper said, “In my perspective, I told the players that we’re happy with the result but we’re dissatisfied with the performance because I know we can do better than that.”
“Against China, we showed organization and discipline, but in this game we showed moments where we can attack but I think we didn’t have enough continuity in our game while we possessed (the ball) more,” added Cooper.
Guirado produced his 11th international goal when defender Jefferson Tabinas created a counterattack with a long ball for the midfielder who sent a low cross to the 36-year-old striker for the finish.
They doubled their lead on a goal by Guam’s Marcus Lopez in the 61st minute after a free kick by Manny Ott.
The goal was initially awarded to substitute Mark Winhoffer, who had come on two minutes earlier but a review showed that the ball hit Lopez before bouncing past the goal line.
Hartmann settled the final count with a free kick from the left flank, his first goal since scoring in the Azkals’ 3-0 win over Nepal on Oct. 31, 2014.