RP TEAM READY FOR GAME AGAINST INDONESIA
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 19 Dec 2010
RP Football Coach Simon McMenemy.
Philippines coach Simon McMenemy believes that his players are well prepared for the second leg of their AFF Suzuki Cup semi-final against Indonesia on Sunday and will run themselves into the ground for the "biggest game of their careers".
Studio 23 of the giant broadcast network ABS-CBN will telecast the game ?Live? beginning at 7:45 p.m.
With a fully fit squad at his disposal, McMenemy is unlikely to make any changes to his starting line-up for the fourth game in a row as the underdog Filipinos look to turn around a 1-0 deficit at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium after losing the first leg at the same venue on Thursday.
While he admits that he has a limited squad to choose from, the Englishman rejects the notion that his side are under-prepared or lacking in fitness for the match.
"We have a limited squad as we have some able players on the bench who may not quite be at the level of starting right now," said the Philippines coach.
"We weren't expecting to be going so far in the tournament and to be playing game after game after game. We weren't expecting to be putting the same squad out time and time again.
"But it's not like we're under-prepared or unfit. No matter what the commentators on Star Sports say, we have prepared well, we are a fit side and we don't stop running.
"Our fitness proves itself in that we have scored three goals in the 94th minute over our last eight games. Teams that are unfit can't do that but we go right up to the very end and that proved itself in the result that we pulled out against Singapore, for example. We didn't give up and we kept going right until the very end.
"The players will be well prepared and ready again for the fight. This is the biggest game of their careers so motivation will not be a problem. They will run until they're dead."
While the Filipines adopted a largely defensive approach for the first leg, McMenemy has promised a more adventurous approach for the return game.
"In the game the other night, it was important that we kept things tight," he explained. "We couldn't go chasing the game by pushing more men forward, changing the formation or playing more direct. We still needed to do what we're good at in order to keep things tight.
"If we had committed men forward, Indonesia are very good going forwards and they could quite easily have pulled us apart and put another three or four in the net as they have done quite a few times.
"The fact that this is a two-leg tie means that we have a bit of a different mentality going into the second game.
"We can afford to go forward a little bit more. Obviously if we want to stay in the tie, we have to go out and score. Our thought process will still be a bit similar but we can afford to be a bit more adventurous."
McMenemy also revealed that his players were feeling well relaxed after being given the day off on Friday.
"We were out in Jakarta, went to a mall and just did a bit of shopping," he said. "It's amazing when you go out ? it reminded me that we are in a hotbed of football, a nation that is alive with football over here.
"It is quite different to being out in the Philippines because you can still walk out on the streets and not get asked for pictures and autographs. But over here, it was something else. There were a couple of times when we were in a bit of a scrum in the middle of the mall.
"But I think that the boys are relaxed and chilled out. They're eager to get the match under way and they should be ready to go on Sunday."
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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