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Post by butchok on May 15, 2014 3:11:43 GMT 8
Kuwait dominated us in the World Cup qualifiers albeit under the questionable management of Coach Weiss. This means that the Afghans are not going to be an easy opponent for us. Kuwait lambasted Azkals 3-0 in the first leg last July 2011. . Again , Kuwatis defeated the Azkals 2-1 five days later in Manila I spite of Schrocky's debut... This was three years ago, I guess Azkals has improved by leaps and bounds during the interlude... Moreover, Lucena, Mulders, Steuble and Juani were not around yet with the Azkals.
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Post by butchok on May 15, 2014 3:21:33 GMT 8
FT Kuwait 3-2 Afghanistan Just to put things into perspective. I was told 2 of Kuwait's goals came from penalties while Afghanistan scored twice after it was reduced to 10 man. Pretty impressive against a team that dominated us 3 years ago. Afghanistan is for real. Yeah, the Afghans are for real . As I said in my previous posts, they are the most determined, most prepared team in this tournament. They are fighting to prove something like redemption as their country are besotted by almost 30 years of conflict... Quite reminiscence of Angola when they qualified in 2006 World Cup, they were very focused and determined .Like Afghanistan, Angola that time just came out from decades of Civil War.
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Post by cjeagle on May 15, 2014 3:29:29 GMT 8
Sure we have improved especially now with Dooley at the helm and all the additional players. I am still optimistic of getting a positive result. Having said that, Afghanistan has shown they can be competitive against mid level Asian opposition, which I consider where the Philippines is now. Add that to the fact that we will be missing our top strikers, Phil Y and Javier Patino, I think goals will be a premium in this match. We tend to have difficulty scoring goals against quality opponents when Phil Younghusband is not available. Nevertheless I am quietly optimistic we will get a positive result from this match. It just won't be easy.
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Post by butchok on May 15, 2014 3:34:21 GMT 8
So, for me the Azkals should exert extra energies against Afghanistan and Palestine.. These countries are hungry for attention and their players' traumatic experiences with wars has aided their toughness. ..
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Post by cjeagle on May 15, 2014 5:39:47 GMT 8
I was told Dooley went to watch the match live bet. Afghanistan and Kuwait to scout the Afghans, something that Weiss never did during his tenure. Hope he can replicate what Schaefer did in the Suzuki Cup and come up with a plan to counter Afghanistan.
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Post by cjeagle on May 15, 2014 6:09:01 GMT 8
I forgot to mention this earlier. Kuwait fielded its U-23 team(or at least mostly their U-23 team) in this match, not their senior team, so this match is not equivalent to the ones we faced in 2011.
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Post by strikerbon on May 15, 2014 10:49:21 GMT 8
i just noticed that in all of our first matches in every big tournaments, we got to face the title-favorite teams. last Suzuki cup, our first opponent were the host and arguably the best team in the group, Thailand, and also during the last edition of the Challenge Cup, we encountered North Korea which eventually end up as the champion.
now we will face the more prepared Afghanistan and i hope we'll beat them this time. i am confident with Dooley and the only goal i can see coming from our opponent is by a breakaway goal, and if our defense and goalie keep intact, we might get a clean sheet this time.
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Post by iniestafan on May 15, 2014 11:55:06 GMT 8
3 reasons why Im confident and convinced w'll do well in Maldives 1. Superb fitness of Roland Muller. Nothing beats playing in europe. He kept several cleans sheets against quality players. (No disrespect to Neil) 2. Availability of stephan schrock, the difference maker. 3. Our players playing on a different level now compared before. Our players know that they could win even against tougher opponents.
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Post by cjeagle on May 15, 2014 12:55:10 GMT 8
Highlights
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Post by roldforgoal on May 15, 2014 13:04:45 GMT 8
With Gier's suspension. Who do you think will fill in at CB. Will you utilize Lucena or make anton start at CB? I think we need Lucena's exp at the back. For some instance i saw anton last friendly going out of position. Maybe we should be very careful with this Afghans attack.
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Post by cjeagle on May 15, 2014 13:06:04 GMT 8
With Gier and Phil Y out, this is my preferred starting lineup: Muller Rota Lucena Guirado Cagara de Jong Steuble James Y Mulders Schrock Reichelt
Dooley has already experimented with Lucena at centerback in one of the friendlies with positive results so I don't see why he won't go back to that. Del Rosario on the other hand nearly cost us a goal with his intentional handball against Malaysia. Fortunately Deyto saved the pk.
Afghanistan's best defender centerback Sharityar is suspended for the first game, so hopefully we can take advantage of this.
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Post by roldforgoal on May 15, 2014 13:48:52 GMT 8
With Gier and Phil Y out, this is my preferred starting lineup: Rota Lucena Guirado Cagara de Jong Steuble James Y Mulders Schrock Reichelt Dooley has already experimented with Lucena at centerback in one of the friendlies with positive results so I don't see why he won't go back to that. Del Rosario on the other hand nearly cost us a goal with his intentional handball against Malaysia. Fortunately Deyto saved the pk. Afghanistan's best defender centerback Sharityar is suspended for the first game, so hopefully we can take advantage of this. No gk bud? Hehe i prefer that back four with gier out. At times anton was getting impatient unlike lucena who is very calm. Do we have a news on cagara's and rota's injuries?
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Post by cjeagle on May 15, 2014 14:06:35 GMT 8
Oops sorry. Lineup corrected. I am not sure how healthy Cagara is. They must think he is fit enough to play, since they didn't called Jonsson up. As for goalkeeper, I prefer the player with the best form and fitness at the current time. Since Neil has not been starting and has been injured most of the year, that would be Roland Muller who from all accounts has been outstanding for his team.
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Post by cjeagle on May 15, 2014 14:20:27 GMT 8
Muller played in a 2-1 win last night for Servette. Acc. to one of the facebook pages, the initial plan was for him to miss the last game on the 17th so that he can fly to Maldives in time for the first match against Afghanistan.
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Post by iniestafan on May 15, 2014 15:57:29 GMT 8
Sir sorry for my premature observation, but it looks most of kuwait goal opportunity galing sa counter attack since makikita mo naiiwan ung defender and almost one on one sa keeper. Mukhang masyadong malalim na ung atake ng afghanistan. Im hoping that schrock and reichelt's pace would give them trouble. Hehehehe mukhang i'll change my lineup and ilalagay ko si Balot at CAM.
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