2011 Long Teng Cup

[chololot12]

The back 4 did a very good job...We can say that our U23 have a solid backline now....
Roland Muller is the Man of the Match...We now have a reliable backup for NE

Chinese Taipe team sucks they wasted the game time by those diving and simulated injury.. I thought they can win us by 10-0.So lame

[strikerbon]

angel could not play for the game against macau because of 2 yellow cards, just like the case of Aly and Stephan before. but there is no announcement yet. remember Simon Greatwich had 2 yellow cards during the qualification of the AFC Challenge cup, but was able to play against Bangladesh.

[stellarboy]

Here's my beef on Macau right now.

Macau maybe lower ranked, actually one of the world's lowest-ranked team at 191. But they had managed to make a single goal against Hong Kong which is about 40 places higher than them in FIFA rankings.

Their team captain (forgot his name, but he's a striker IIRC) is a very important player for the team. He managed to help them score that goal by a very tricky pass against the left defense of HKG. They maybe very slow at the midfield but they can turn aggressive up front. Given that we have a strong back, we may deflect their attempts all the time.

But here's my worst scenario: if Aly B or Poetschke gets injured or sent off, we must be warned. We must have reliable wingers to minimize the damage that Macau may inflict. I am now not sold on Phil YH's inaccurate shots. He seems to exert too much on aerial shots. I would really like to see Misagh there and break open their defense if he wants to. And if ever Mark Hartmann will be out of the doghouse then he will be a saving power for the team. Chieffy, Jason de Jong and Angel might be dearly missed but it might be time for Moy, Christaens and maybe Fernandez to shine.

I prospect a win against the Macanese guys but I just fear the worst can happen if the defense will break open by an unforseen circumstance.

An embarrassing defeat or draw against us will make us think over if Coach Weiss is to be sacked off.

Crossing my fingers.

[stellarboy]

Reposts from another forum by "HRK1":

As I said in a previous post, this year's Long Teng Cup is the Azkals' yard stick in comparison to their 2010 Long Teng Cup performance. Even 3 months ago, I had a feeling that Hong Kong will take this year's comp seriously due to the fact that they intended to send their full senior team (as oppose to the U-23 team they sent last year). I believe this decision was purely made due to the "football explosion" the azkals did between Dec 2010 and July 2011.

I am not a psychologist but I noticed from the body language and the way they stared down on pinoy players, that old hong kong prejudice never dies. I always feel hong kong people look down on pinoys (ie because they see PHI as a country of domestic helpers working in HK and the Quirino Tourist Bus massacre is still being discussed in HK and Singapore, even today).

Well, HK saw a different PHI. They met De Jong. For his many disciplinary flaws, he wouldnt take crap from no one and the HK players found that out. Fortunately for HK, Schrock was not in the team. We Philippine-bred pinoys (and our society and government) have always taken a soft stance on how arabs treat our OFWs, how HK and Singapore treat our DH and how Japan treat "japayukis".

But our Euro azkals are half europeans...it is through that european half and the society that they grew up that they never tasted discrimination from another race against PHI as a whole. So, whether staring down on pinoys (be it psyching them out from the game or just the old prejudice of looking down on so-callled "low-class" pinoys), the euro azkals can hold their head up high against those "ching-chong-sues" and represent PHI for all pinoys. PS: staring down on Angel wouldnt work - he is by far the tallest man on the pitch.

Now, just to get any potential head-aches out of the way, azkals MUST win against Taipei. Azkals can not afford a loss or draw. Considering HK will be playing Macau next (the weakest team in the group), that is practically a win for HK. Hence, azkals must win against taipei to keep up with HK. A loss to Taipei will be a disaster and a draw (although not completely a disaster) will mean that we need to beat Macau and hope that HK beat Taipei.

---

My blunt prediction:

Because we now have two draws we no longer have any chance of winning the cup.

My outside chance prediction:

On paper, PHI seemed to have an easy last game vs Macau. Whereas HK and Taiwan have a much harder game because one of them is likely to be the champion.

We have to beat Macau by more than 5 goals. Then hope that HK vs Taiwan end in a draw. This can only happen if Taiwan really want to win this cup and they will fight like hell to beat HK. But HK (being the defending champion) will fight like hell not to let Taiwan beat them.

My conspiracy theory:

There are certain times vs HK and vs Taiwan that I had a gut feeling that there are other external factors influencing the game. I have this gut feeling that HK and Taiwan will screw PHI (for their own dual benefit) so that PHI will not get a foothold in the game or beat them. Now that PHI more likely will not win the cup, Taiwan can now just surrender in their last game and let HK beat them and win the cup as well. I believe Taiwan will be willing to do this as long as "that country" with half-blood european does not win a competition for "Asians teams" played in an "Asian country".

---

I'm starting to think that we are being conspired by these Chinese, according to "HRK1". No offense to Lexton Moy's lineage but is this what they're doing?

[kulaspero15]

Oct 3, 2011 7:58:40 GMT 8 vimjonk said:

That's the problem with almost all National Team. They are only together for a relatively short period of time.

It's why there are some sucessfull football coaches/managers that have difficulty(hesitant) transitioning from club management to NT management.

The success of Spain last WC was attributed to some extent by the familiarity of their player in their club play especially the midfield (Xavi, Busquets, Iniesta). del Bosque do not like to start Fabregas(maybe, their most talented MF) because it would disrupt the MF interplay.

Even the current Italian NT first XI is somewhat a combination of club players if you would break-up their line-up into defense-midfield-attack.

I totally agree vimjonk. Good thing that some of our foreign based players decided to play in the UFL which will definitely help develop the chemistry and familiarity between our players. (although the level of competition is lower as compared to abroad)

Kaya for example has delro, Aly and sabio in the defensive line with burkey and tuazon playing upfront.

Loyola has the Hartmanns and the younghusbands. So it will be interesting to see the outcome of this in a year or two.

[rogue]

Very very frustrated with the game! Don't know where to begin. I guess I expected too much, that we could win this tournament or at least be in 2nd place. Just want to vent out my frustration with how the Taiwanese players were playing, the referees and our strikers - Ian and Phil. And Marky Hartmann, he could have helped the team if it weren't for his attitude. Grrrr.

I don't know about Coach Weiss' being sacked because for one thing, hindi naman tayo naghire at nagbabayad sa kanya. He's part of the assistance package that German football gave to us. Hindi tayo pwede maging choosy. We have to work with what we have. In saying that, it doesn't mean also that the coach has not done anything to improve the NT players. I think he has made some contributions. I guess everything is still a work in progress up until now (which means, I'm putting my expectations down a notch again).

Praying for a miracle in our last game and a draw for HK-Taiwan.

[rogue]

stellarboy, I agree with the observations of the poster about discrimination. Its very true with some Chinese or Taiwanese people. Taiwanese don't also want to be called Chinese, btw.

[kulaspero15]

Oct 3, 2011 10:26:10 GMT 8 stellarboy said:

We have to beat Macau by more than 5 goals. Then hope that HK vs Taiwan end in a draw. This can only happen if Taiwan really want to win

@ stellarboy please correct me if I'm wrong. Do we really have to score more than 5goals against macau to have a better chance of winning the cup? I think it's enough for us to score 4 goals without conceding any and hope that HK v Taiwan ends in a draw.

[feindouno]

Just my two cents: I don't care much about the results of the TPE-HKG match. It's just a friendly tournament after all. I'm more concerned about our own performances.

[spam]

I think their offside trap got us, and didn't find solution to it; but in the end it backfired to them when a goal was disallowed on their behalf.

[batotoycamacho]

we can't be ashamed of what they did against Taipei. IMO they did a great job most especially Muller. He was the man of the match. The defensive line were also great. It's just 14 against 11 game. And we cant do anything with it. It was one of the subtleties of the game. Sometimes rude crowd/fans of the host country, bad/incompetent/biased officiating to name a few. The burden should not be put on Hans Michael Weiss' shoulder. The game showed that there is a progress on their game. We can see more passing. There are some tentativeness on defense at times, but it was due to lack of exposure. If the team play more games, they would develop game instinct properly. Develop chemistry, cohesion. Get that scoring instinct. Our forwards showed that they're not that classy yet. Sooner, as long as they play together, they would get that goal of theirs.

[sheajane80]

Oct 3, 2011 11:13:16 GMT 8 spam said:

I think their offside trap got us, and didn't find solution to it; but in the end it backfired to them when a goal was disallowed on their behalf.

no it didn't backfire. their offsidde trap was when they were doing the defending,while during that disallowed goal they were on offense.

[stellarboy]

Another post from "HRK1" from another forum:

Well, I can see the bad and the good from this game.

The BAD: our old football enemies have now reverted to a game plan of time wasting, diving, rough play in order to rattle, frustrate and unsettle our players. Something our football rivals have not done against us. They used to win against us by huge margins and I swear when they are winning some of their players play "rock-paper-scissors" during the game to determine who will score next.

The GOOD: Well in a way it is also good. That means we are now seen as a THREAT to them. They are taking notice that this 2011 Azkals is not the RP team from previous decades (and is also different from the 2010 Azkals). They must've been taking notes these past few months and keeping tabs on our euro-azkals. I can only assume that they know that our euro-azkals play in europe and have football skills that are far more advance than anything in SE Asia. I can also assume that they know they are not on equal footing with our euro azkals, hence they will use whatever un-sportman tactics they can (ie diving, time wasting, falling to the ground even when no one touched them) in order to undermine our players.

The BAD: Once again (just like in the Challenge Cup qualifiers), we did not take maximum points against teams that are within our level. We now have to rely on beating a team lower than us (Bangladesh in the Challenge Cup and Macau in this year's LTC). Although, it might be an advantage to have a minnow in a group - it will not be the case every time (ie we might be put in a group of death in a future comp: ie with Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam (again), Uzbekistan, etc). The team need to play in a way that the every game is make or break game. We can not rely on the attitude of "ohh...there is always the last game...it will be alright then"...in international football...this is not a good policy.

Speaking of Bangladesh:

Back in the Challenge Cup qualifiers (March 2011), PHI was ranked 151 and Bangladesh was ranked 174. Our ranking then reflected the fact that we beat higher ranked Vietnam in the 2010 Suzuki Cup. Well, we are now 162 and Bangladesh is 139 - courtesy of beating higher Pakistan in the WC qualifier Rd 1, then beating much higher Lebanon in the 2nd leg of WC Rd 2 (PS: even though they beat lebanon in the second leg, Lebanon still won on agg).

[Wiking]

I just saw the game once more, its great what you see when you have time to look around the pitch, away from the ball and also to see what you've missed the first time. Anyway, here is my observation. Please note that I'm a fan just like everyone here and not a professional. I'll only judge something that I saw, or think I saw. Here we go...

1st half lineup:

Mueller
Carli-----OP-----Aly-----NLeonora
JYh-----Angel-----MattH-----Chieffy
PYh
Ian

Mueller: "The Rock" has all the non believers, believing now. Despite the language barrier, he can communicate and direct his defense. I'd list all his great saves but there were just too many! MOM!

Carli: This kid has a better motor than everyone on the pitch this game. Only one, I think, who has better is Chieffy(when healthy). His work at RB is wonderful, but I bet you didn't see him in offense? Watch this kid next time, he and Neckson Leonora can sometimes be found deep in the offensive side. He also does not hesitate to knock you down(legally) if you are in his area. His first tackle was at 1:48 in the game! 68min great tackle and stole the ball! Did you notice he can do a 'long throw in'(14min) ala del Rosario? Overall he was the most involved defensive back.

OliverP: He is done getting nervous, very aggressive this match. He was behind a few times on a breakaway but managed to misdirect balls away from goal. At 30min he missed on a 1-1 tackle but goal shot was saved by Mueller; 84min great saving tackle. He seems aware of his responsibilities now and does not stray to far from his area.

Aly: His performance today was awesome, specially at the last quarter of the game. He and OP was left on defense while Leonora and Carli were far forward but he and OP were always in great position to defend. He had numerous defensive saving headers. Here are some of his actions I saw: 36min saved a goal by header; 77min saves a breakaway goal and other passes in the box he intercepted, misdirected and/or negated. I didn't count but he probably had the highest tackle total in the game for the Azkals yesterday. He wasn't perfect, at 28min he missed a tackle but Mueller saved a goal. Overall he was the most affective defender in this match.

Neckson Leonora: I hate to toot my own horn, but after the match he played with the Azkals in the ICanServe Invitational I said the kid was very fast and fearless. I think you'll agree. This kid did not show fear or was over awed at his first international game! He was a joy to watch. At 5min he did a bicycle kick for christ sakes! In the first 10 min Taiwan attacked his left side but got no where. He was quite active with a good motor. After the 80th minute, he and Carli could be found on the other side attempting to jump start the offense. Thats what I call confidence.

Chieffy: We can all agree, without Chieffy we seem to be less creative AND less dangerous. I hope he gets well soon.

MattH: Matthew was very active in the game though I was surprised the second time I saw the game. I do not know if he was just getting tired but he was getting knocked off the ball by the smaller Taiwanese players later in the game. He had some good passes but also some bad ones too.

Angel: He is a joy to watch at mid, dribbling the ball Spanish style. The opponent also seemed scared of his height and gave him a lot of respect because of this. Unfortunately, he has still to get his playing form at a higher grade. He does look tired at around the 70 minute mark. Again you see him at the defense side of the pitch and he is quite effective. In the second half it seemed(at least to me), he settled in as Forward? after Moy came in the game, but I still saw him in the Central Mid area.

JamesYh: He played well. Active on defense and offense. At 23min he made a beautiful steal of an opponents ball. He just didn't have too many touches of the ball as compared to the last game. Perhaps this was a Taiwanese game plan?

PhilYh: I did not keep a tally but he must've had 95% of all shots to the goal this match. Most of them looping shots on goal. He was obviously getting fatigued AND frustrated as the match went on. He had a bad game no doubt, but why not sit him down and give someone else a try? Was the coach afraid of hurting his feelings?!

Ian Araneta: I've seen the earlier post about Ian so I deliberately concentrated on his play the second time around. Its eye opening what I saw.

The Azkals tried to get him the ball early but no pass reached him! These passes are all to Ian: 14min pass from Phil, 16min pass from Phil, 17min bad pass from Angel, 32min pass from Phil on a breakaway, all of them either too far or misdirected by the opponent. I don't think its Ian's fault on those occasions. He also played better and deeper defense than Phil who rarely crosses the midfield line. At 19min he was to be found on top of Muellers box shoulder to shoulder defending.

I think we are all expecting too much from Ian and this is why most of us has an issue with him in this game. He isn't creative with the ball compared to Phil and Chieffy. The best time to get Ian the ball is when he doesn't have to dribble far but all he has to do is shoot it or a high ball for a header. Also, if I could describe him as a basketball player, he is someone who will score 20 in one game and 5, 8 and 7 the next three games. You'll just never know when he will score.

In summary, the team was not up to the task of getting him the ball where he is most effective. Do you remember when he received a 'good' pass for a shot at goal in this game?

2nd Half subs:

Jeff C: I won't compare his work with Chieffy because that would be unfair, but he is very active not just on offense but on D too. The one thing I saw as something to be improved is his ability to retain the ball. He was easily dispossessed of the ball at times. He was competent at passes and attacked the goal with gusto. Even attempting a shot on goal at the 56min mark. He gave up a shot on goal to Phil at the 72min which I think he should have taken.

Lexton Moy: While I root for this guy, why use him to replace Ian when there's Misagh or Mark? Why put a defensive guy when the score is tied and the team is trying to win the game? Having said that, Lexton went in to play defensive/central mid(72min), while Angel moved to forward(great move coach, 2 tired and frustrated forwards). He played well in his area. Moy stole the ball from a relentless Taiwanese attack at the 78th minute. Moved the ball around well. Unfortunately, the game complexion was not changed when he came in.

Mark H: I forgive you for a childish outburst on Tweeter. Don't let it happen again!

I'd like to write a long diatribe against the coaches personnel decisions here, but I won't. I hope he starts TRUSTING and using more of his players. It's unfair to me the way he uses his subs and his unpredictable substitution pattern. But what do I know? I'm just a geek in front of a keyboard.

[al luz812]

vs macau


-----------------mueller------

--carli------op----------aly-----leonora--

--jyh-----lmoy-------djong---misagh/christ--

-----------mark/ian-----phil-----


caligdong needs the rest and may be reinserted at the last 30 mins of the match if needed.
matt should stay at the bench, no more of those ugly long balls
mark im sure regrets what he did, its time for him to prove his place at the team...even as a 2nd half sub.
ian is ian, either he score a bunch of goals or a hat trick boo-boos.