The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Azkals win over Chinese Taipei

 

The Philippines kicked off the Peace Cup with a dominant 5-1 victory over Chinese Taipei at the Rizal Memorial Stadium. It was the kind of result which neatly reflects the 51 places between No. 128 Philippines and No. 179 Chinese Taipei as the Azkals saw out the team that shocked them with a 2-1 upset last year. 

 

There are certainly many positives to take from the game but there are also many things which should temper fans ahead of a tough match against Myanmar on Saturday. So we take a look at the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of the Philippines' Peace Cup so far. 

 

Good: Winning 5-1

 

Obviously a 5-1 victory is a great way to kick off this tournament for the Azkals. It's the biggest win for the Philippines since the 8-0 thrashing of Cambodia in 2013 (the other similarities with that game will be discussed later). 

 

Good: Youth movement

 

Beyond the result, Philippine fans were previously crying out for youth in the squad, aside from substitutions from time to time, and a distinguishable playing style. In Thomas Dooley, the Azkals seem to have a coach who is bringing his extensive playing experience from a decade in the Bundesliga. 

 

With two teenagers starting (Kenshiro Daniels and Amani Aguinaldo) and another coming off the bench (Daisuke Sato), there is plenty of youth, with Manny Ott (22), Mark Hartmann (22), Curt Dizon (20), and Jason De Jong (24) also featuring. All six substitutions were also used, three of them at half-time. 

 

Bad: James Younghusband as a striker

 

With Stephan Schrock out of the Azkals for the foreseeable future, there were a few surprises in the lineup, especially with Kenshiro Daniels at right back and James Younghusband as striker. 

 

That's not even about James; he played well and his height was an asset.

 

This is to say that needing James in attack is a reflection of the lack of depth the Philippines has in that position. With Javier Patino perpetually unavailable, only Phil Younghusband and Nate Burkey were natural strikers in the squad. It's a situation that will need to be addressed in the future if the team are to find goals against better opposition. 

 

Ugly: Rizal Memorial Stadium

 

It's that simple. Once again the Azkals had to show off a much too wide variety of athletic feats with track, field, and swimming all on display. 

 

It took just over an hour to deal with the water on the field as RMS showed off the renovations to the ground and its new drainage system: a bucket and a rake. 

 

Even during the installation of the artificial pitch the field got flooded under heavy rain and the problematic areas were clear to see.
 

It was another issue which could have been prevented with the right preparation. 

 

Good: Misagh Bahadoran on left

 

Bahadoran very unselfishly provided the assist for James Younghusband's goal, while setting up a number of other chances in the first half - a positive in a squad in need of someone to stand out on the left wing.

 

Bad: Phil Younghusband on the wrong end of the cross

 

Phil Younghusband was again drifting wide to supply crosses into the box. Many times they didn't clear the first defender, as the Loyola forward is more potent on the end of the cross, with his brother James supplying them. 

 

Ugly: One of the worst national stadiums in the world?

 

According to FIFA's regulations, RMS can seat 12,873. Only Timor Leste has a smaller national stadium in Southeast Asia. Excepting the Philippines, the average capacity for a national stadium in the region is just over 47,000 - almost four times higher than RMS. And given the state of the Stadium itself the Philippines doesn't just have one of the worst National stadiums in the region, but most likely the world.

 

Good: Rob Gier's first international goal

 

The defender had his effort against Laos chalked off the official record books after Laos used one too many substitutions and the game was  no longer recognised as a FIFA friendly. Rob has sacrificed a lot to play for the Philippines and deserved the goal on his 54th appearance for the country.

 

Coming from a corner, Rob's goal was also the only one from a set piece, too, with some neat passing at times for the four goals in open play.

 

Bad: Defensive errors

 

There were a few, with Jason De Jong at one time taking too long on the ball just outside the area. Chinese Taipei attackers nipped in and Roland Muller had to mop up the danger. Much of this can be attributed to the conditions and the opposition, though, and we can see against Myanmar how that pans out.

 

Ugly: Terrible attendance

 

The game was among the worst-attended in recent memory. So that, of course, begs the question: how can we improve the stadium if no one is going there to watch games? Aside from the traffic and kickoff times preventing many fans from getting to RMS in the first place, especially on a weekday, over the past few decades attendances in European leagues have been steadily rising largely because clubs have renovated the stadiums so that they're actually decent and safe places to go.

 

Good: Azkals dominance

 

The team really dominated the game, this should be emphasised more. Aside from their goal, Chinese Taipei didn't have any other clear cut chances. In better conditions it's unlikely they would have been presented with that chance either. 

 

The Philippines were physically and tactically superior and it really was a team effort. You can see that progress in the squad even just this year.

 

Bad: Chinese Taipei quality

 

Chinese Taipei were poor. Their standard from last year's Peace Cup and this year has noticeably dropped, they just weren't the same team who shocked the Azkals last year with a 2-1 win. Their defense gifted the Azkals some of the goals.

 

They woke up a bit at the start of the second half and began putting high pressure on the Azkals but the Taiwanese either didn't have the legs to keep it up for the rest of the game or were put off by the conditions of the game. 

 

Chinese Taipei didn't do themselves justice, just as Palestine's injuries and political situation left them short-handed and the 88th ranked Challenge Cup winners sunk to a 4-1 loss to Myanmar (160) in the other Semi Final.

 

Ugly: Rizal Memorial Stadium, again

 

It's a stadium that was previously deemed unfit to host Indonesia in the Suzuki Cup. The field has flooded twice in its last three international games and is surrounded by rundown stands. Toilet facilities are perpetually broken and in the dark, and even the clock on the scoreboard doesn't work.

This is the face of Philippine football to the travelling fans and foreign TV. 

 

I would be much more forgiving of these issues if they weren't years old. So although it was a decent showing on the pitch from the Azkals, to a large extent RMS prevented us from seeing how much the team really have improved.

 

And this isn't the Azkals' fault. Team management and the players aren't responsible for this just as they weren't responsible for how some of the organisers overlooked the fact FIFA only allow two international friendlies in an official FIFA break, and had to change the Peace Cup format to knockouts.

 

Again it's issues off the pitch. In the end we're left with the same old problems; how proper planning and organisation still haunt progress in Philippine football. — JST, GMA News/Photos by KC Cruz