AZKALS WIN PEACE CUP IN STYLE
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 30 Sep 2012
The Philippine Azkals football team won the Philippine Football Association Peace Cup with a convincing 3-1 victory over Chinese-Taipei before a huge crowd at the Rizal Memorial Stadium on Saturday.
The win was the Philippines first triumph in an international tournament in 99 years and proved that the game has quickly been embraced by Filipino sports fans who expect bigger things in the years ahead.
Despite the absence of ace striker Phil Younghusband and brother James, both of whom have played a key role for the Azkals in the past, the new-look squad of coach Michael Weiss played well together and looked impressive.
The star of the 5-0 thrashing of Macau, striker Denis Wolf who scored a hat trick on Thursday opened the scoring in the 10th minute before skipper Chieffy Calidong made it 2-0 in the 35th minute when a Chinese-Taipei defender failed to clear the ball properly.
Promising youngster OJ Porteria ended a rousing first half for the Azkals when he put the ball into the back of the net off a breakaway in the 43rd minute to give the Azkals a comfortable 3-0 lead at the half.
Azkals goalkeeper Eduard Sacapa?o who has played well in the tournament in the absence of first choice keeper Neil Etheridge was beaten in the 52nd minute by Chinese-Taipei forward Chang Han to trim the Azkals lead to 3-1.
Tempers began to flare midway into the secomd half when talented Demetrius Omphroy got entangled with Chinese-Taipei?s midfielder Lo Chi En inside the penalty box with the visitors asking for a penalty.
Chinese Taipei Football Association Vice President Leo Fu Tsai, vehemently protested the call and was banished by the referee but the Chinese-Taipei official refused to leave the team bench which resulted in the game being delayed by almost ten minutes.
Chinese-Taipei wasted a chance to trim the Azkals lead further when they were awarded a free kick but forward Lo Chi An?s effort was tame and Sacapa?o had no difficulty in saving the attempt.
Patreick Reichelt who scored against Guam and added another goal against Macau blew an opportunity to increase the Azkals lead in the 79th minute but his shot careened off the post.
Chinese Taipei had one more opportunity to cut the Filipinos lead after Jason De Jong was guilty of a poor tackle inside the box but skipper Yang Chao Hsun shot tamely as Sacapano judged it well and batted the ball out for a corner which the Chinese-Taipei squad failed to capitalize as the Azkals cleared the ball upfield..
The win by the Azkals was the first scored over Chinese-Taipei in their last seven matches going back to 1960.
The last time the Philippines won an international tournament was in a gold medal performance at the 1913 Far Eastern Games when the Philippines beat China.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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