Philippine Azkals face Malaysian Tigers Saturday with new Coach

The Philippine Azkals will be facing the Malaysian Tigers in a friendly game Saturday night with new coach Thomas Dooley, who will lead the Philippine National Football Team to the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup competition in Maldives starting May 19.

Dooley replaced Michael Weis, who was instrumental in improving the Philippine ranking from 162 in July 2011 to 127 in the latest FIFA rankings.

During his three-year stint with the Azkals, Weis led the team to the semi-finals of both AFC Challenge Cup and Suzuki Cup.

The FIFA international friendly game in Malaysia is part of Azkals' preparation for the upcoming 2014 AFC Challenge Cup scheduled for May 19-30, 2014 in Maldives.

The Maldives games will be the last of a series of five tournaments in the AFC Challenge Cup as the the football body prepares for the bigger and expanded Asian Cup.

The Azkals and the Malaysian football team have figured in past games in their respective home courts. The Azkals won over Malaysia 1-0 at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in 2012 while both teams ended with a scoreless game in the same year in Malaysian home court. Read more:

On March 5, the Philippine team will face Azerbaijan in another friendly.

A few days before the Azkals' first friendly, Dooley called up at least 23 players who will make up the team in the upcoming friendly.

The list include veteran players in the Azkals team as well as comebacking and new members.

Chieffy Caligdong, who remains in the injured list may not see action this Saturday and will likely be replaced by veteran defender Rob Gier.

The Younghusband brothers, Phil and James are expected to be fielded by Coach Dooley along with Marwin Angeles, Amani Aguinaldo, Misagh Bahadoran, Jeffrey Christiaens, Jason De Jong and Mark Hartmann of Global FC.

They will be joined by other Azkals veterans including Ed Sacapaño, Juani Guirado, Patrick Reichelt, Marwin Angeles, Amani Aguinaldo, Misagh Bahadoran, Jeffrey Christiaens, Jason De Jong, Mark Hartmann, OJ Porteria and Chris Greatwich.

The others in the list include comebacking players Anton Del Rosario, Ruben Doctora, Nate Burkey and Simon Greatwich. First timers in the team include, Kenshiro Daniels, Andrew Liauw and Nick O’Donnel of Kaya FC and Filipino-Swiss Martin Steuble.

The Philippine Azkals will figure in at least five friendlies before settling in the main competition in Maldives from May 19-30, 2014.

The game will be held at the at Selayang Municipal Council Stadium in Kuala Lumpur starting at 8:45 p.m.

At stake in the Maldives games is a slot in the 2015 AFC Asian Cup.

source: digitaljournal.com

2 friendlies for Azkals

A mixture of new and returning players will suit up for the Philippine Azkals when they play in two international friendly matches starting this Saturday against Southeast Asian powerhouse Malaysia.

New Azkals coach Thomas Dooley has brought in several United Football League standouts to complement mainstays like brothers Phil and James Younghusband, Rob Gier, Stephen Schrock, Neil Etheridge and Javier Patino for the friendlies that also includes a date with Azerbaijan on March 5.

The returnees are 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup veteran Anton del Rosario of Kaya FC, Nate Burkey of Pachanga Diliman and Simon Greatwich of the Loyola Meralco Sparks. The three have been out of the national squad for at least two years. New faces that will don the national colors are Kaya’s Kenshiro Daniels and goalkeeper Nick O’Donnell while Fil-Swedish Martin Steuble, who hopes to make his first cap for the Azkals in both friendlies. (JT)

PH Azkals force scoreless draw

SHAH ALAM—Stalemates against pedigreed sides often brought delight to the Philippines in the past.

But despite giving Suzuki Cup champion Malaysia all that it can handle Friday night in a scoreless standoff at the Shah Alam Stadium, the Azkals were left ruing the missed opportunity of pulling off another upset that could have enhanced their growing reputation in the region.

Parading new combination of players who had only two training sessions together, the Azkals valiantly held their ground in the face of the home side’s relentless attacks in the second half, while putting what was considered a stronger Malaysian team than the one they drew with in Manila three months ago on their heels for most of the opening half.

“It really just goes to show how far we’ve come when the team becomes disappointed by drawing against the Suzuki Cup champions,” said Azkals manager Dan Palami. “It was a very tough match.”

The match that drew about 15,000 spectators had few clear-cut chances, which mostly belonged to Malaysia in the second half.

Fil-German goalkeeper Roland Muller had a solid outing and the Azkals survived the pressure, while Stephan Schrock pulled the strings at midfield early in the opening half.

The Azkals were missing key players in Neil Etheridge and Phil and James Younghusband, who are all expected to return for the clash against Indonesia on Tuesday.

Denis Wolf, the scorer in the 1-1 draw against Malaysia in Manila, could not duplicate his exploits, narrowly missing on a left-footed effort in the 34th minute after a flowing move that started with Schrock’s free kick and Juani Guirado’s quick through ball.

Paul Mulders also had a bullet of a volley barely going over, after getting a layoff from Wolf in the 14th minute. Substitute Marwin Angeles sent a low shot from just outside the wide after recovering the ball at midfield, and Angel Guirado caused problems with his physical presence going forward and nearly set up Schrock for a goal.

“In some respects it was a good performance,” said defender Rob Gier, who wore the captain’s armband for the remainder of the match when Chieffy Caligdong was substituted in the 55th minute. “We rode our luck a couple of times, but we also had a couple of good opportunities ourselves which showed the quality of the team.”

Malaysia couldn’t cash in on their opportunities as Muller and the Azkals defense proved equal to the challenge.

The best among Muller’s crucial saves came in the first half stoppage time when he went full stretch to punch Shahurain Abu Samah’s shot into the post. Gier also blocked Safiq Rahim’s effort when Muller was beaten early in the second half.

Rahim was a thorn for the Azkals side, but he blew three chances with the goal at his mercy as he combined well with strikers Safee Sali and Idlan Talaha.

Philippines coach Michael Weiss vowed for a better performance for the Azkals on Tuesday. “Automatically, the cohesion will be better,” Weiss said. “The defense was solid and compact. But we have to be more determined in front of the goal.”

source: inquirer.net

My Say: I think missing some key players did affected Azkals play against Malaysia. I guess what they can do is not to depend too much on their key players by improving the skills of all the players. Azkals will be a better team if they can depend on one another and not just to few. That way, even if some players miss a match it will not affect the team too much since there are other players that can play.