MANILA, Philippines — The victory was sweet, but helping out the victims of storm “Sendong” was really what C.F. Internacional De Madrid came here for.
Internacional De Madrid pinned the Philippine Azkals-UFL selection to a 3-1 loss in the “Dili Kamo Nag-iisa” Charity event Saturday at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila—and the players from both sides couldn’t have been more thankful as to be part of the event.
“It was a fun game, and the most important thing for us is that everybody enjoyed,” said head coach Javier Garcia Marquez. “Our first objective was to help and we feel like we did enough to raise funds.”
The Spanish side pounced on the “Azkals Alyansa” errors quickly into the second half and netted a goal off the counter attack for a 3-0 lead.
Ignacio Buenache Feijoo provided CFIM’s third goal after Daniel Garcia Fernandez and Rufino Sanchez opened up the scoring for the Madrid side.
Sanchez, the top scorer of the team with 15 goals in this season of the Tercera Division Club, found the bottom left corner of the goal in penalty kick in the 15th minute.
“We did our best to help the typhoon victims of ‘Sendong,’” said Sanchez through an interpreter in the post-match conference.
Fernandez doubled the score for CMIF as he connected with Sanchez on the counter attack in the 32nd minute.
Younghusband averted a shutout in the Philippines’ home turf, something that hasn’t happened to the Azkals, with a header off a cross from Chieffy Caligdong in the 62nd minute.
“It feels great. I was glad to get a goal but I’m happier to be a part of this event,” said Younghusband, who, along with Chieffy Caligdong and his brother Phil, impressed the Madrid coach.
The Azkals were sluggish as the Spanish side’s attacks caught them napping on defense on several occasions.
CMIF will stay in the country until the 12th of January and will face the United Football League Cup champions Air Force next week before going back to Spain.
All proceeds of the event, from tickets sales to donations will go to the Philippine Red Cross.