PHILIPPINE AZKALS BANKING ON HOME CROWD IN FIRST LEG OF SEMIS VS SINGAPORE
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 05 Dec 2012
The Philippine Azkals who will kickoff their home-and-away semi final legs of the AFF Suzuki Cup at the Rizal Memorial Stadium, are banking on a hometown crowd to give them a boost when they face talented Singapore on Saturday.
With several Europe-based players doubtful because of club commitments, highly successful German coach Michael Weiss will be forced to shuffle his line-up and hope to get the results he needs to keep the momentum of the growth of football in the Philippines amidst wonderful fan support.
It's not going to be an easy task against former champions Singapore who will host the Philippines in the second leg at the Jalan Besar stadium on December 12.
The Philippines finished second in the tough Group A which was referred to as ?The group of death? after losing 2-1 to Thailand but fighting back to defeat Vietnam and Myanmar rather impressively.
Singapore on the other hand survived several anxious moments before recovering from two goals down to overcome Laos 4-3 and clinch the No.2 spot in Group B.
Singaporean coach Radojko Avramovic believes his ?Lions? would handle the physically strong Filipinos better than the lightly-built but quick-footed Laotians.
The Suzuki Cup website quoted Avramovic who said ?The Philippines style of play is very physical but it will probably suit us more. Their style of play is not a South-East Asian style. It?s very physical and they have different types of movement going forward.?
The Azkals are overjoyed at the prospect of opening their quest for a finals berth at home after being forced to play both semi final games in 2010 in Indonesia because local facilities were not up to international standards.
Despite the crowd of some 80,000 at Jakarta?s Gelora Bung Karno and the intimidating atmosphere the Filipinos put on a gallant performance only to lose both matches by a 1-0 margin.
Ace striker Phil Younghusband?s brother James who was a key member of the 2010 and 2012 squads, said that they had achieved their aim of bringing football back to the Philippines.
He told the Suzuki Cup website ?It is brilliant for Philippine football that we have qualified for the semis...the whole team is ecstatic. We lost the opening game (2-1 against Thailand) but bounced back really strong and showed some real team spirit,? he said of the 1-0 victory over Vietnam and the 2-0 defeat of Myanmar that sealed a spot in the last four.?
He added ?We are very happy that we get to bring international football back to the Philippines and get to play in our home stadium.?
James noted that the Philippine Azkals ?have grown as a team in the last two years and a lot of credit goes to the management and the supporters back home. There is more interest in us (and we have responded). We just needed that dream journey in 2010 to pave the way.?
He said ?I am looking forward to the game at Rizal. There will be a full house and I think that will give us the extra boost we need to really push forward and play some good football.?
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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