AZKALS (0) - (8) NAKHON PATHOM Football Club (NPFC)
The following analysis is purely based on the Youtube highlights of this match. It is personal and strewn with errors.
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The average fan pays no attention to the details and nuances that separate club football from international football and expect a high level of consistency from their players regardless of the level they are playing at. What I'm talking about is the differences between playing for your club and for your country. Look at Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Rooney. All had fantastic seasons leading up to the 2010 World Cup at which they promptly disappointed.
For starters, at club level a playing style and identity is quickly established and the manager signs players that fit into his ideals of how the game is to be played and won. The manager of the national team, while still conscious of a national playing style, tries instead to focus on the strengths of the players available to him.
For example, when Cristiano Ronaldo plays for his club he has been used on both the left and right flanks as a winger and this is where he does his most damaging work but when playing for his country, Portugal, he occupies a more central position (simply because Portugal needs goalscorers and C.Ronaldo has scored more goals for his club than any Portuguese striker).
Second obvious fact is that players at club level train daily with more or less the same group of guys and thus develop an understanding that is almost telepathic. It is said that Spain's World Cup trophy was won by their midfield players who ply their trade at the same club, Barcelona. (Some hint that this is why Cesc Fabregas was used sparingly so as not to disrupt the connection between Xavi and Iniesta because Arsenal plays a different passing game to Barca's tiki-taka.)
So while the club manager has the luxury of training his players daily, the national team manager only meets up with his team on the occasions leading to international matches.
From these two facts alone we can, to a certain degree, figure out why the Azkals lost so resoundingly to a 2nd Division Thai team.
(Refer to the Youtube highlights for the timings:
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0:39 - 1:00 [Thai Passing and Movement]
You will notice immediate how the Thai team impose their rhythm with a their short passing style and their movement off the ball. It's just brilliant stuff, really. Such a playing style is developed at club football level where players have the opportunity to train together everyday. Again, it is important to note that our Azkals cannot play the same way simply because our Azkals are not in the same position and situation as a club team. Which is why the next incident we will highlight demonstrates how ingrained in our playing style is the direct (or long ball) approach.
1:07 [Free-kick]
The only thing noteworthy of this poorly taken freekick is that it had somehow gotten through the Azkals wall which it never should have. Either the players making up the wall weren't tight enough or the goalkeeper didn't set it up properly. I hope it's a one-off thing.
1:12 [Azkal Wing-play]
The Azkal winger (James?) carries the ball on the right flank. His options are limited as three Thai players quickly get goalside in order to cut off his passes to the Azkal striker (Phil?) while a fourth Thai defender has covered our second striker (Ian?) who is streaking towards the box.
But a fourth Azkal midfielder moves in beside our winger and suddenly he (James) is presented with two options: a simple short pass to the midfielder beside him or a through ball into the path of Ian Araneta. But does he analyze the situation? Does he have the mentality to build up the attack with short passes? No.
Instead, he makes the wrong choice of going for goal. I say wrong because he gambled on shooting from a distance and angle that was just too ambitious. There was no attempt at that moment to slow the game down and assess his options. Although he got the ball on target and forced a save from the Thai GK it was still the wrong choice to make as he had better options available.
1:22-1:30 [Score: 1-0]
A through pass releases a Thai forward who is joined by two others in a 3 on 3 situation (see 1:24) but the pace and diagonal run of one Thai player leaves his marker behind and suddenly it's a 2 vs 1 situation... a pass to the far post finds an open player and it's bang! thank you very much. Three things come to the fore:
1. The defense wasn't tight enough.
2. Our defense was simply not fast enough (but c'mon, if you can't run at least be mentally fast!)
3. Rather poor decision by the GK to stay put in his goal line... he could have taken the option of coming out (a) intercept the pass to the far post, (b) close down the angle of the shot from the far post
1:39-1:47 [Azkals miss chance]
Again, the direct approach favored by the team is apparent as a deep pass is dropped over the Thai defensive line opens up for the Azkal striker (Phil Y?) a 1-on-1 situation against the Thai GK. By all appearances our striker seems to be on-side, but the Thai GK closes him down quickly and Phil side-footed the ball wide of the near post.
1:48-2:00 [Score: 2-0]
Nakhon Pathom responds with a long ball of their own which finds a striker lurking beside the last defender. The Thai striker shakes off the rather weak challenge of the defender (Azkal #26) and races into the box. The defender (#26) lunges desperately but he's already well beaten and has given the striker a split second to compose himself before firing a rising shot under the crossbar.
(1) The Azkal defender's (#26) challenges were poor. His last lunge was toothless as he appears not to have made any contact with the ball.
(2) The Azkal GK (Sacapano?) did well in covering his near post. However, his reluctance to come out of his line and close down the angle was his undoing as it gave the Thai striker the slightest bit of time for composure (you can actually see the Thai striker pause for a fraction of a second as he steadies himself). The resulting strike was fantastic as it was taken at a difficult angle, under pressure from the defender, and it was struck with power.
2:08-2:18 [Score: 3-0]
The accuracy of Nakhon Pathom's passing and their brilliant movement was showcased on the run to their third goal. A neat pass sidefooted from a midfield player finds a forward who delicately chips the ball into the path of an onrushing Thai player who beats his Azkal defender with his pace and then again turns that same defender inside out as he cuts in before calmly chipping over the onrushing Azkal GK.
1. Our defense was caught ball watching.
2. There was no strong challenges made, there was a lack of a bit more determination from the defender to win his duel with the forward. His errors exposed the goalkeeper.
2:24-2:45 [Score: 4-0]
This section, which opens with a throw-in, illustrates our loose defending and the lack of providing defensive cover for the pressuring player. The Thai player prepares to take the throw and it appears that our defenders are man-marking well. But at 2:26 our defender (Azkal #4) allows his man to make a run towards the thrower. As our defender (#4) tries to correct his error by closing down on the ball he inevitably opens up space for the opposing striker to move into. To make matters worse, the Azkal rightback (#3) LEAVES HIS MAN to help close down on the ball.
Look at 2:30... notice how we have 4 players... FOUR!... closing down on the ball while the two Thai players are LEFT ABSOLUTELY FREE!
The Thai player with the ball simply splits our defense open by passing into open space. Look at next moment, 2:32, the covering Azkal players (#6 & #28) are to far away to be of any good. At 2:34 our defenders have recovered somehow and are now trying to pressure the Nakhon Pathom player on the ball... the advantage is on us as we out number them 2 vs 4 at this moment. We should have won the ball but again, loose marking allows the Nakhon Pathom winger to sprint ahead with the ball (2:36).
And because Azkal #28 gives him too much room to squeeze in a shot, the winger gambles on shooting even though the angle wasn't the best. The shot is palmed away by the Azkal GK and it drops invitingly in front of a Thai player who graciously obliges by whacking the ball in from point blank range. Note that the Azkal captain, Ali Borromeo, who was marking the player, had lost concentration and had left his man free to roam (there's at least two yards of space between him and the man he's supposed to be marking).
It's a school boy error and from his body language Borromeo knows it. Sacapano throws the ball in frustration at Borromeo's feet as Ali walks away.
Let's just stop here.
There's no point torturing ourselves any further because the same errors keep showing up all the way to the 8th goal.
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CONCLUSIONS
1. It was just a tune-up game with nothing at stake except our national pride. Our players were probably trying to avoid injuries coming into the Suzuki Cup hence the general lethargy and lack of commitment. But still, if you were a fringe player trying to impress the new boss aren't you going to try to impress him by putting in your best performance? If you were a senior player and a veteran of many Azkal campaigns wouldn't you cajole, plead, even provoke to your teammates to fight until the final whistle even at such a meaningless match? Imagine how psyched up and confident our players would be going into the tournament proper if the scoreline was reversed... Azkals 8-0 Nakhon Pathom!
It is said that confidence is the most precious commodity in football; nobody knows where it comes from or where it goes.
2. Our players appear lost when playing against a confident, pacey team. Nakhon Pathom tore us apart with their movement and crisp passing and we had no tactical response to that. Or if the coaching staff did make tactical changes it didn't appear to work.
3. Nakhon Pathom didn't give us a chance to play our long ball game properly because they were better organized and were constantly putting our defense under pressure.
4. Our defending, particularly our discipline and concentration in man-marking, was horrendous.
5. Our attack seems devoid of creative ideas. We were more like Stoke City versus Barcelona.
6. There appears to be little vocal communication between players.
I'm afraid we appeared tactically naive and technically deficient.
Unless of course we wanted to look that way in order to fool scouts sent by our opponents. ;-)
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IS OUR LONG BALL/DIRECT APPROACH WRONG?
No.
Let me say it again... NO!
I believe we are not in the position to play pretty football at the moment. (The "at the moment" phrase is crucial here because we should strive towards a better playing style.) AT THE MOMENT, the direct approach suits us because we do not have the organization, training, and infrastructure in place to play like Barcelona.
Scandinavian countries like Denmark and Norway have a successful history playing long balls (they're regulars at the World Cup for crying out loud!).
Sven Goran-Ericksson's successful club teams (forget his horrendous stints with England and Mexico) won numerous trophies on a direct, no nonsense approach.
But most remarkable of all long ball stories is how tiny Wimbledon beat mighty Liverpool in the FA Cup Finals playing, what else, LONG BALLS!
Lately, Newcastle has launched an amazing comeback into the EPL and are beginning to enjoy their season playing a more direct style of football.
A direct approach (getting ball to the forwards quickly rather than passing it around) works well if:
1. your players are very aggressive in marking, tackling, and winning back the ball
2. your forwards are good in the air and strong finishers who know what to do with the ball
We've got item #2 covered... Phil Younghusband (strong in the air) and Ian Araneta (a fantastic finisher) are showing signs of building a good partnership.
It's item #1 that's worrying. With Jason de Jong in the midfield we've got someone with a fantastic work rate and who's not afraid to go into tackles. It's the backline that's a bit worrying as we've been showing lapses in discipline and concentration.
However, regardless of the result of the Suzuki Cup, I believe we have one of the best Azkal line-ups we Pinoy fans have seen in a long time. Our beloved Azkals are making important strides on the international stage. We've got people willing to sacrifice time and money on improving the state of Philippine football.
And best of all we've just disposed a corrupt PFF president!
LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL!