Philippines vs Turkmenistan (5-24-14)

[cjeagle]

Starting lineup:

[boybato]

I guess the Azkals dont have to look overseas for their future left back. The kid's vision is amazing! I am jumping on the Sato bandwagon!

[mike fil montz]

reviewed the game twice,. props to stueble sharp passes to the wingers, whch paid off dearly to a richelt goal., where was this guy 2 years ago?

[iniestafan]

My thoughts about the game:

The team can control the tempo of the game. During the 1st half, there were plenty of long balls, trying to exploit the absence of Turkmenistan's defender. But during the 2nd half, our team implemented our slow build up, short passing game. Confusing Turkmenistan's midfield.

When at the penalty box, we lack creativity. There were lots of instances where players tend to watch Schrock or PYH instead of moving in, placing yourself for better scoring opportunity. ( this I think is the upside on Burkey)

De Jong owned Turkmenistan's midfield, as if they were non-existent. Steuble's pace and tenacity gave Schrock, PYH and Reichelt a lot of room to operate and relieved them of pressure in bringing the ball. Mulders was fantastic in defending, showing his experience and court savvy.

Muller... Well, he's the man, i hope he continues his fine form.

Rota shows that he can play physical and is not intimidated by Turkmenistans winger. Man, i'm really impressed with his dribbling. Amani proved that he can play in Bigtime games, but we'll have to find out if hes gonna start against Maldives. Rob is still our anchor on defense.

Balot is more of a disrupter. He's not there to score goals but to put pressure on defenders as he always keeps on running maintaining his pace.

[xyz1000]

May 26, 2014 13:29:21 GMT 8 iniestafan said:

My thoughts about the game:

The team can control the tempo of the game. During the 1st half, there were plenty of long balls, trying to exploit the absence of Turkmenistan's defender. But during the 2nd half, our team implemented our slow build up, short passing game. Confusing Turkmenistan's midfield.

When at the penalty box, we lack creativity. There were lots of instances where players tend to watch Schrock or PYH instead of moving in, placing yourself for better scoring opportunity. ( this I think is the upside on Burkey)

De Jong owned Turkmenistan's midfield, as if they were non-existent. Steuble's pace and tenacity gave Schrock, PYH and Reichelt a lot of room to operate and relieved them of pressure in bringing the ball. Mulders was fantastic in defending, showing his experience and court savvy.

Muller... Well, he's the man, i hope he continues his fine form.

Rota shows that he can play physical and is not intimidated by Turkmenistans winger. Man, i'm really impressed with his dribbling. Amani proved that he can play in Bigtime games, but we'll have to find out if hes gonna start against Maldives. Rob is still our anchor on defense.

Balot is more of a disrupter. He's not there to score goals but to put pressure on defenders as he always keeps on running maintaining his pace.

Agree on the assessment here. That Schrock is a leader on the field and all over the place creating havoc on the opponents is great. The one thing that does, however, is that others may depend on him too much. I saw at least two instances close to the box when rather than take a shot a pass was made to Schrock, and a shot would've been a good, if not a better choice. This is where familiarity and trust and teamwork between players come in.

Rota and Sato were solid, Steuble especially so. No problems with Aguinaldo.

Riechelt's goal was beautiful, and I won't let the fact that he was a fraction of a step offside dull the luster.

Phil's goal was as good looking as any of his modeling photo shoots, but then I'm biased towards set pieces where the ball makes it in right at the edge or corner.

I'll say it again -- I'm impressed with the attack buildup from the back and the way it succeeded, the way it is succeeding now. A mixup with the right amount of long balls was there to keep the opponents honest.

Overall a very good showing against a good team. I like the direction and progress of the team.

[cjeagle]

Dooley's post

I wish every fan could have experienced and celebrated this night with us Philippines 2-0 Turkmenistan. Thank you for all your support and well wishes for Semifinals game. This video is from Asst. Coach Baltazar. Azkals FIGHT!

www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10202609384290559&set=vb.274556976044563&type=2&theater

The boys are singing "I want it that way" is this video.

[cjeagle]

The euphoria from making the semifinals of the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup for the second straight time was clearly in the air inside the team bus and team boat as the Azkals headed back to their home at Bandos Island Resort.

The players were singing their hearts out to the tune of popular ditties and some were even dancing as the boat crossed the sea from mainland Male’.

It was a real good night.

Two hours before, the Azkals fended off a spirited challenge from a desperate Turkmenistan, scoring a 2-0 victory that not only secured their spot in the Last 4 of the Asian Cup-qualifying tourney but also installed them as the top team from Group B.

There’s also a sprinkle of “cold revenge” exacted on an opponent that ended their Cinderella run last year and bumped them out of the title picture then.

“We’re happy we’ve qualified, even more happy we’ve qualified top of the group,” said Phil Younghusband, who along with Patrick Reichelt struck for Phl in that huge win.

“Finishing with seven points (at the end of group play), it looks quite comfortable. I think we got better and better as each game’s gone on,” he added.

Shifting to a different formation (4-4-2) against tall Turkmenistan and pouncing on the creativity of Paul Mulders, Jason de Jong, Younghusband and Martin Steuble in the middle, the Azkals managed to get the better of the Green Men. At the same time, Roland Muller took care of business in front of the goal, making a number of superb saves highlighted by a stopped penalty kick in the first half.

“We were up against a team that was going all out for the win, that’s what they needed. And they flew in their best player from Latvia (Ruslan Mingazov) and we were quite concerned, of course,” said team manager Dan Palami.

“But I think the Azkals right now have shown they can cope with the pressure and of course that win against the runner-up of the 2012 and 2010 editions of the Challenge Cup is quite (satisfying) especially against a team that ousted us from being in the finals last time. So it was a good and sweet revenge for us,” he added.

Group B topnotcher Azkals will shoot for a coveted finals berth Tuesday night (midnight of Wednesday in Manila) against the No.2 in Group A, host Maldives.

That one’s going to be another challenging match for the history-seeking Azkals.

“We play against 11 players from this country who are playing a home game with I don’t know how many thousand fans behind them. That’s the biggest challenge we have,” said coach Thomas Dooley.

“It’s a cause for concern because they’ll have the advantage of the home crowd. But I think they lost one of their games in the group stages here so it’s not impossible to beat them,” said Palami.

He was referring to the 3-2 defeat the Maldivians got at the hands of Myanmar in Group A play.

Home superstar Ali Ashfaq who scored three goals in the group stages, will lead a crew that’s described as “quick” and one which is “relentlessly hustling.”

www.abs-cbnnews.com/sports/05/26/14/win-sweet-revenge-azkals