Uzbekistan 1:0
Philippines
In a night that
Philippines needed nothing more than victory against Uzbekistan in the FIFA world
cup and AFC Asian cup qualifiers, Azkals faltered but the 26 years English
League One club Walsall goalkeeper Neil Etheridge became a hero as he saved his
10-man Azkals from humiliating defeat.
The game started brightly
as both teams came in with attacking intentions, however, it was the home side
that had the first goal scoring chance as they came into a 1v1 situation with
the Philippines number 1 who was brilliant in stopping the ball in the 6th
minutes of play.
The moment which defined
the game came in the 10th minutes of play when OJ Poteria who was instrumental
in Kaya FC defeat of New Radiant of Maldives and Balestier Khalsa of Singapore
in the AFC cup was shown a red card which we believe should have been a yellow
for a tackle on the Uzbekistan player in their box.
With Azkals now left with
10 men, they dropped deep with every player defending. This invited Uzbekistan
to come out in numbers in search for opener but the goalkeeper who was
fantastic and exceptional through out the night was always there to make those
safes that proved why he was invited.
As the struggle to cope
continued for the Philippines Azkals, they managed to get the ball out of the
defense to their attacker that had options but he decided to shoot from a distance
in the 20th minutes but the shot was not strong enough to threaten
the opponent’s goalkeeper.
The game continued with
Neil Etheridge producing another safe when the back line allowed the ball to
bounce and went over them for the home side striker to shoot. Etheridge
produced yet another safe after safes until the half time as ball kept coming in
from the Uzbekistan’s right wing.
Second half started and
the home sides continue the pressure from where they stopped in the half with Philippines
showing no attacking intention.
They came close to having an opener with a flick header but Etheridge
was too good to be beaten. Another long-range shot came in the 52 minutes and the
safe hands was equal to the task.
With all the wonders from Philippines Etheridge and Uzbekistan missed chances, that break through came
for the home side as they finally found the back of the net in the 59th
minutes of play and left Azkals with a new mind set and approach.
With 1 goal down, Philippines
came out with some counter attacking game that almost gave a fruitful result.
But we believe they waited too long before putting pressure on the Uzbekistan which 59th minutes goal gave them a deserving 1:0 victory at the end of the full time whistle.
We understood that Azkals
were one man down in a game that wining was the only option. The team should
have taken risk by playing with 3-man defense so that they could still attack
and limit space for Uzbekistan to build their attack.
We congratulate the whole
team for the way they defended but the defending tactics was wrong for a game
of that nature where scoring goals should have been the first priority.
Next game is against
Korea DPR at Rizal Memorial Stadium Philippines.
Date: March 29 2016
Time: 8:00 pm
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