Photo by: Tristan Tamayo/Inquirer.net
GUANGZHOU – Facing China was expected to be a tough proposition for the Philippines Azkals.
But losing 1-8 in an international friendly here was – as one player had described – simply “embarrassing.”
The Chinese flaunted their depth and quality in the second half to deal the Azkals their worst beating in 15 years at Tianhe Stadium here.
Not since the 2002 Asean Championships when a Philippine team suffered a 1-13 drubbing at hands of Indonesia have the Azkals lost by this big of a margin.
The Azkals conceded twice in the first 25 minutes, before Misagh Bahadoran got on the scoresheet in the 33rd minute much to the delight of a small group of Filipino fans inside the stadium right at the heart of the city’s business district.
But the hosts scored six unanswered goals from there as the Azkals spent the last 20 minutes with only 10 men on the pitch with Bahadoran had limping off and coach Thomas Dooley running out of substitutions.
The scoreline would have been worst had Patrick Deyto not stopped a penalty midway in the second half.
While the match was considered a friendly, it was difficult not to look into the result with an AFC Asian Cup Qualifying clash against Tajikistan in Dushanbe coming up on Tuesday.
Rest and recovery will be key as they travel to the Central Asian country on Friday.
But this heavy defeat was a difficult pill to swallow and players were heard getting into a heated discussion after the match inside the dugout. One player was heard saying that the performance was simply “embarrassing.”
Make no mistake about it, there was a huge gulf in quality especially in the second half when the Chinese, the highest-ranked team the Azkals have faced in years, ran riot against an inexperienced backline of newcomer Camelo Tacusalme, Luke Woodland, Christiaens and Kenshiro Daniels.
The Azkals’ attack in the first half showed marked improvement from previous matches with Manny and Mike Ott linking up well, while Phil Younghusband pulled the strings at midfield.
Bahadoran looked dangerous with his runs and Iain Ramsay’s pace gave the Azkals a threat on the wings.
But the more the Azkals pushed forward, the gaps in their defense were exposed and against a sharp and quality team like China, they were punished severely.
Bahadoran wasn’t the only player with injury concerns as Jeffrey Christiaens also had to seek treatment after the match for a knee injury.
Daisuke Sato and James Younghusband were also substituted in the first half due to separate injuries. Dooley remains hopeful the Azkals can shrug off the mishap and come out better against Tajikistan. He has six days to right the ship.