Despite late scare vs Fiji, Azkals get ‘good training session’ ahead of crucial match

Azkals’ head coach Thomas Dooley. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Alarming as the two goals surrendered late in the second half, Philippine Azkals coach Thomas Dooley believes that the 3-2 victory over Fiji on Thursday had served its purpose.

“It was a good training session for us playing against fast forwards,” he said.

Dooley took advantage of the friendly to give some guys a much-needed exposure, making changes after the first half and inserted five substitutes.

Sub Pika Minegishi immediately made his presence felt with a goal in the 53rd minute and the home team seemed poised to preserve the clean sheet after taking a 3-0 lead in the 61st minute.

But despite the Azkals’ aggressive attack, the same could not be said on defense as goalkeeper Nick O’Donnell surrendered two goals in the final 20 minutes of the match.

Dooley, though, justified his decision and the late scare was something which he believes the Azkals could learn from in preparation for the all-important match against Tajikistan on Tuesday in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers.

“We tried something out. We always want to see new players dealing with the pressures of being in the game. If we can deal with it now, we can deal with it next time, maybe against Tajikistan,” he said.

Forward Misagh Bahadoran agreed with the mentor, saying the Philippines needs to do a better job on defending the ball.

“In transition, we just have to switch on in any minute of the game. In football, anything can happen. One mistake can lead to a costly goal so hopefully, we learn from our mistakes and coach will teach us with how to address our problems before our game against Tajikistan,” he said.

Bahadoran, though, was still satisfied with how the Azkals performed in this tuneup match.

“I think this was a good game in preparation for Tajikistan because the team was defending physical so the players started to play one touch, two touches, move the ball very, very well,” he said.

Bahadoran went to as far as saying that if the Philippines performs the same way come Tuesday, there’s a huge chance for the country to advance to the continental championship next year.

“If we move the ball like this against Tajikistan, we have a good chance because we’ll have good quality players then. Hopefully, (Javier) Patiño comes and finish the chances more. The team did a very good job,” he said.