Capellas has tempered expectations as PH opens Asean bid

Coach Albert Capellas believes the Philippine men’s football team has made some progress despite a rollercoaster ride since his arrival last September, and he expects some of that to show on Thursday night in the opener of the Asean Mitsubishi Electric Cup.

“We have been together for three games and if I evaluate those three games, I’m very happy [and] very satisfied,” the Catalonia-born coach said ahead of the 6:30 p.m. match against Myanmar at Rizal Memorial Stadium.

The Group B contest will be the start of the Filipino side’s quest to make a return trip to the semifinals of Southeast Asia’s most prestigious football competition and also a test if the squad Capellas has honed can produce results with the games now mattering.

The Philippines has posted one win and two defeats under the former FC Barcelona youth coach, but not without all games seeing some semblance of hope that a top two finish can be a possibility.

Those games, however, didn’t come without some areas that need to be fixed.

Fighting chance

“The game against Tajikistan [in the third place of the King’s Cup in Thailand where the Philippines won], we made a big step forward. [But] the [friendly] game against Hong Kong, we made one step backwards, and it’s something that is part of the process,” said Capellas.

“It’s not something that goes like this,” Capellas continued, gesturing an upward motion. “It’s a process [that has a lot of] ups and downs. But when we go back after two years, we have to see that ‘Wow. What we have achieved in the last two years.’”

“But in this process, there will be ups and downs, and I expect that tomorrow and one of these times,” he added.

The Filipinos, who are foreseen as having a fighting chance of making the semis even without some key guys, will be looking to set the tone once kickoff ensues against a Myanmar squad that began the campaign with a 1-0 loss to Indonesia in Yangon.

Myanmar kept itself in contention for at least a draw against an Indonesian team that elected to field mostly players from its youth team, until conceding an own goal from Zin Nyi Nyi Aung in the 76th minute.

“It will be an interesting game,” said Capellas. “We will try to dominate the game from minute one, but we have to learn to be in the right positions when you lose the ball because one of Myanmar’s characteristics is to have quick counterattacks.

“That is one of our aims, which is to control everything [even] when we lose the ball.”