FILE – The Philippine Azkals during their friendly against Nepal at Rizal Memorial Stadium. AZKALS PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines-The Philippine Azkals conceded twice in the second half to absorb a 3-2 loss to Chinese-Taipei in their rain-drenched friendly match held Monday at Rizal Memorial Stadium.
Coach Michael Weiss’ side couldn’t sustain its halftime lead as the visiting Taiwanese squad got the result behind Yao-Hsing Yu’s equalizer at the hour mark and Ming-Wei Lin’s winner entering stoppage time.
“We showed morale and spirit in the first half which got us the lead at halftime. But even morale and spirit could not help us in crucial situations,” said Weiss after settling for defeat in his second game back as Azkals mentor.
Weiss did offer some positives for the long term despite the outcome that concluded the June international window. He’ll have more chances to discover what he hopes would be a competitive Azkals come the World Cup/Asian Cup Qualifiers in November.
Weiss’ latest tenure with the Azkals began the window last Thursday with a 1-0 win over Nepal.
It was another impressive result for Chinese-Taipei, which three days prior held Thailand to a 2-2 draw in Bangkok.
An opening goal from Yen-Shu Wu off a free kick two minutes into the match didn’t prevent the Azkals from fighting back before a crowd of 3,758.
Mike Ott scored off a penalty in 12th before Patrick Reichelt, who started despite suffering a nasty cut the last time, produced the go-ahead goal in the 39th for the Filipino booters.
Veteran goalkeeper Neil Etheridge, who got the start after Patrick Deyto’s clean sheet against Nepal, made several saves in the second half, but Chinese-Taipei was still able to find the net.
Yu equalized on a counterattack before Wu got the away side back in front after capitalizing on an empty net after Etheridge saved an initial attempt from the far end of the post.