Sacapano stars as Azkals beat Singapore
Philippines goalkeeper Eduard Sacapano put in an inspired display on Thursday to help his side eke out a 1-0 friendly win over Singapore in Cebu City.
By ESPNSTAR.com staff
Substitute Marwin Angeles came off the bench to net what proved to be the winner in the 53rd minute, but it was Sacapano who really caught the eye as he singlehandedly kept the visitors at bay.
More importantly, the 32-year-old's display will greatly hearten coach Michael Weiss, especially after first-choice goalkeeper Neil Etheridge's club side Bristol Rovers claimed he would not be available to play in the AFF Suzuki Cup.
The Lions, on the other hand, have now won just two of their last 12 matches and will need to improve significantly if they are to get anything out of next Sunday's Suzuki Cup Group B opener against defending champions Malaysia.
Yet, in a fairly open encounter, it was Singapore who got off to a brighter start with Qiu Li in particular looking dangerous in the attacking third.
Sacapano was certainly the busier of the two goalkeepers early on and had to be alert to deal with a couple of dangerous crosses from Qiu and Shaiful Esah in the opening ten minutes, before Shi Jiayi tested the Philippine Army man with a long-range drive in the 27th minute.
Singapore had another good chance right on the half-hour mark when Khairul Amri could only send a free header off target following a good cross from Shi and three minutes later, Shahdan Sulaiman fired another effort just wide from the edge of the box, after the hosts had failed to clear their lines.
Stunned at the way their opponents were threatening their goal, Philippines began to push forward with more intent and Chris Greatwich fired a shot over in the 39th minute following good hold-up play down the left by Patrick Reichelt.
Right before the break, the Lions were handed an excellent chance to open the scoring after Jeffrey Christiaens was adjudged to have brought down Amri inside the area, but Shi could only watch on in horror as his penalty kick was saved by Sacapano.
Clearly having had enough of Singapore looking the more dangerous side, Philippines coach Michael Weiss decided to bring on star duo James and Phil Younghusband on at halftime, along with Global youngster Marwin Angeles.
Eight minutes after the restart, the changes proved to be a masterstroke as Phil Younghusband found space down the right and whipped in a cross that was swept home by Angeles to give the hosts the lead.
Baihakki Khaizan then had a close shave in the 67th minute when he nearly volleyed a low cross by James Younghusband into his own net, before Sacapano pulled off another fine save eight minutes later to keep out an effort from Shahdan and with the keeper beaten, Shahril Ishak could only send the rebound back off the post.
Hyrulnizam, who was by far the less busy of the two custodians, then matched his counterpart's efforts with a fine reflex stop to keep out a diving header from Denis Wolf, who came even closer in the 81st minute when he struck the woodwork with a strike off a Phil Younghusband cross.
With time fast running out, Singapore mustered one final effort to grab an equaliser and they nearly got it when a freekick from Shaiful took a nick off a head and looked destined to nestle into the bottom corner, only for Sacapano to once again come to the Azkals' rescue with a diving save.
Philippines kick off their Suzuki Cup campaign next Saturday against co-hosts Thailand in Group A.
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