Azkals – Yemen Postgame Thoughts: It Is What It IsThe Philippines' World Cup qualifying campaign is all but ended after a sorry 1-0 loss at home to Yemen on Thursday. Dissecting a disheartening evening of football is not easy.Bob Guerrero
Published 12:58 PM, November 13, 2015
Updated 12:59 PM, November 13, 2015
MANILA, Philippines – Ironically, the Yemeni civil war indirectly gave Yemen a helping hand. One of the first things coach Thomas Dooley mentioned in his postgame press conference was that the Yemeni team, because of the war, had stayed together for two months straight, (the Yemeni coach, Amin Al-Sunaini told the media on Wednesday that it was actually 3 months), in Qatar, where they lived, trained, and played all their “home” games. The result was a team that, according to Dooley, connected well with each other.
The 2015 Yemeni football league is one of the many casualties of the war, with play suspended indefinitely. That meant the Yemeni boys were fully focused on their national team for months on end. Ironically, that helped the team fully gel.
In sharp contrast, the Azkals were only really completely assembled on Tuesday. With a paucity of training sessions together they, at times, looked disjointed. Of course, they have all played alongside one another for a while now, but daily training and scrimmages with the same set of players over a longer period of time, (Dooley has said he ideally wants at least 5 days), could have forged better cohesion.
To make matters worse, some of the players who saw action on Thursday planed in from Europe, so jetlag was another factor.
Perhaps we need to encourage our foreign-based Azkals to latch on to clubs in nearby leagues like in Thailand, China, or at least the Middle East if we wish for better results in international matches. That of course, is easier said than done.
We were done in once again by simple off-the-ball movement on the goal. I saw Ahmed Al-Sarori's goal and was immediately reminded of the first goal Bahrain scored last month. They were eerily similar. Check this out from Thursday.
On the Yemen goal Abdulwasea Al-Matari, the number 11, dashes to the end line while Martin Steuble, the Azkals' #21 has his back turned to him. That's the key move that springs the goal. He gathers the ball at the end line and squirts it back near the penalty spot. After Daisuke Sato is unable to clear, it ends up with Al-Sarori, who dances around Kevin Ingresso and beats Roland Muller.
Now look at the first goal that Bahrain put past us last month.
This time it's Sami Alhusaini ghosting behind Stephane Palla to take a return pass that he feeds to Ismael Abdulatif Hassan for the finish.
On both occasions, an opponent of the Azkals is able to move behind one of our defenders, where he cannot see him.
On the flip side, I recall in the second half, seeing a breakaway on the right flank and a cross coming into the box, with all but one player, the fresh-legged substitute, Misagh Bahadoran, storming in to receive it. No one else came in. With so much at stake and with the Azkals playing 3-4-3, it just didn't seem right.
Movement without the ball is a simple, basic, concept in many sports, including football. Yemen gave us a harsh lesson on it on Thursday.
We shouldn't blame anyone but ourselves. I have heard plenty of grousing about the Korean referee's performance both online and in person. There was also the question about the Azkal shots that appeared to cross the goal line but were not given. I was seated in a good spot for the plays but I cannot conclusively state the entire ball went over the line, which is needed for a goal to be awarded.
I think we should not blame those circumstances. I hate making excuses. If we needed a favorable ref and goal-line technology to edge us over into a result then maybe we're just not good enough.
We had the chances but didn't take them. Our players simply froze when they had the opportunities. Plus the Yemeni keeper, Mohammed Ebrahim Ali Ayash, denied a Jerry Lucena header with “one of the best saves I have seen in my life,” according to someone who was tweetcasting the game. The fact that said Tweeter was none other than Neil Etheridge, unavailable due to a quadriceps strain, only adds to the luster of the stop.
We didn't dot the “i's” and didn't cross the “t's.” Steuble had his chances but none came to fruition. In one play Ingresso could have one-time-volleyed a loose ball over Ayash, (the keeper was out of his area), but instead took another touch that doomed the move. Patiño was unable to make his mark.
It appears that Phil Younghusband, despite the fact that he hasn't scored all year for the Philippines, is more indispensable than we would care to admit. The Philippines has scored just one goal in our last 4 games, and none in the last 3.
(Article intentionally cut, to read more go to: www.rappler.com/sports/by-sport/football/112644-azkals-yemen-postgame-thoughts)