Azkals hold Indonesia to a 2-2 draw

Phil Younghusband

A resilient Philippine side needed to come back from a goal down twice to salvage a 2-2 draw against 2010 Suzuki Cup tormentor Indonesia in a testy duel last night at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.

Coming off the bench for the first time in their international careers, Phil Younghusband and James Younghusband remained just as effective, finding the target in an enthralling second half that saw four goals and three red cards.

Making the most out of their two real chances, the Indonesians struck twice through swift counterattacks with Patrick Wanggai giving the visitors the lead with his 57th minute header and Irfan Bachdim making it 2-1 on the breakaway.

The Filipinos were reduced to nine men when skipper Chieffy Caligdong and Manny Ott were sent off in the 80th minute, but they immediately responded with Phil Younghusband’s equalizer off a free kick.

“We can live with a draw because we have a new squad,” said Bachdim, one of three holdovers from the Suzuki Cup squad which saw action last night.

Azkals coach Michael Weiss deviated from his usual starting eleven, opting to make just two changes from the side that drew with Malaysia last Friday. Marwin Angeles was inserted to the starting lineup in place of Stephan Schrock, while Dennis Cagara, who along with Jerry Lucena arrived only Monday night from Denmark, took the leftback position of Juani Guirado. Roland Muller also got a second consecutive start ahead of Neil Etheridge.

“The result is of course is a little disappointing which I can understand,” said Weiss, whose squad flies to Bacolod on Saturday for a duel with Guam on June 12. “But we have to see this as (result) in a long-term perspective. We are trying new players and looking for options because we have a bigger pool now.”

“You saw today how much we’ve grown (since 2010),” said Younghusband. With Mark Giongco, INQUIRER.net

Originally posted: 9:14 pm | Tuesday, June 5th, 2012