Fiery Azkals whip Kaya, all set for Long Teng Cup

The Philippine Azkals wrapped up their preparations for the Long Teng Cup with a 5-0 demolition of United Football League side Kaya FC Saturday in the final match of the ICanServe Invitational Football Tournament at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.

Held scoreless despite enjoying plenty of possession in the first half, the Azkals ratcheted up the pressure with five goals in the last 35 minutes to put a Kaya side bannered by national skipper Aly Borromeo to the sword.

Mark Hartmann, who is also a member of the Under-23 side bound for the Southeast Asian Games blasted a curling free kick from 20 yards to open the scoring before Angel Guirado doubled the lead in the 67^th minute.

Guirado’s rocket from the edge of the penalty box opened the floodgates for the Azkals, who further pounced on a weary Kaya defense with Chieffy Caligdong making it 3-nil three minutes later.

Industrious and enterprising on the attacking third, Phil Younghusband was finally rewarded with two goals in the last eight minutes, including a superb individual effort that saw him beat two defenders before slotting past Kaya keeper Saba Sadeghi.

A pair of Fil-Germans, goalkeeper Roland Muller and defender Oliver Poetschke debuted for the Azkals against Kaya, which also lost 0-1 to Global FC in the first match of the charity tournament last Monday.

The 25-year-old Poetschke, who plays for German fifth division squad BFC Preussen Berlin, was paired up with James Younghusband at central defense, before partnering with Reymark Fernandez in the second half when Younghusband moved to his preferred right wing position.

Both Poetschke and Muller have been included in the Azkals’ 20-man squad for the four-nation Long Teng Cup in Kaohsiung, Taiwan kicking off Wednesday.

The Azkals will be playing five international matches in 11 days starting in Sept. 30 when they face Hong Kong in Taiwan. They will also play Chinese-Taipei on October 2 and Macau on October 4.

With a full complement of players, including those based in Europe, the Azkals play an international friendly in Singapore on October 7, before returning home for a date against Nepal on October 11 at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.