Peace Cup: Wolf gets hat trick as Azkals cruise by Macau

The Azkals treated the home crowd to a scoring party on Thursday as the boys in blue cruised past Macau, 5-0, on the second day of the Philippine Peace Cup held at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum. With the victory, the Philippines now take a stronger hold of the lead with six points in the standings. Chinese Taipei is second with four points after a win against Guam earlier in the day (2-0). Macau has one point from its draw against Chinese Taipei last Tuesday, while Guam is still in the hunt for its first point in the tournament. In the 22nd minute, a slight tap from Marwin Angeles fed a streaking Denis Wolf, as the Fil-German forward powered it in past the goalkeeper for the Philippines' first goal. When Ian Araneta was replaced by Jason Sabio at the 36th minute, Wolf sat down at the sidelines to get treatment for an elbow to the face he recieved from a Macau player. After getting bandaged up, Wolf went back in at the 40 minute mark. Five minutes later, Wolf found an opening yet again and took a shot, only for the ball to bounce off Guam's keeper. Chieffy Caligdong tried to follow up among two defenders, and in the chaos, Wolf composed himself for another shot to give the Philippines a 2-0 lead just before the half. The Azkals did not take long to score their third goal after the break. Demitrius Omphroy pushed hard from the right flank to feed Marwin Angeles in the middle. His try bounced off the keeper, straight into a waiting Carli De Murga, who had an open look for the Philippines' third goal at the 49th minute. With already two goals to his name, Wolf remained active in the middle, in a search for a rare hat trick. Omphroy would help him get one at the 63rd minute. The California native broke away on the right to sail a cross to a waiting Wolf, who blasted in past the keeper for his third goal in the match to make it 4-0. Not to be outdone, last Tuesday's hero against Guam Patrick Reichelt joined in, as a quick cross from the corner by OJ Porteria had the Filipino-German tapping it in for the Azkals fifth goal, 68 minutes into the match. In one of their few opportunities, Macau got a free kick at the 73rd minute, but keeper Sacapano was well-covered. Misagh Bahadoran, who came in as a substitute for Chieffy Caligdong earlier in the 54th minute, was also determined to get one for his own. The Fil-Iranian barreled through three defenders in the 81st minute for a spectacular shot on goal, only to be denied by the right post. Reichelt tried to recover for his second, but his own attempt went wide to the left. The Azkals refused to give up on the offensive. Porteria fed a streaking Bahadoran at the 84th minute, but the the latter took the shot too late for a more difficult angle leading to another missed opportunity. Bahadoran tried twice more in the 90th and 92nd minute without success, as the final whistle blew to end the match with a 5-0 win. The Philippines will play its final game on Saturday against Chinese Taipei. - AMD, GMA News