‘Underdog’ Azkals see tough road to victory

With Vietnam and Thailand out to regain glory and the Philippines and Myanmar steadily improving, the fight for the two semifinal spots in the Azkals’ group in the AFF Suzuki Cup could go down the wire.

“Anyone can beat anyone in the tournament,” said striker Phil Younghusband, a veteran of the 2010 Suzuki Cup, where he spearheaded the Azkals with two goals just like Chris Greatwich.

The Azkals will be playing three matches in Bangkok from Nov. 24 to 30 and skipper Chieffy Caligdong believes their squad remain the underdogs in the tournament, which catapulted the team to national consciousness two years ago.

“We’re the underdogs, but they can’t underestimate us,” said Caligdong at the send off dinner sponsored by Suzuki Philippines Wednesday night.

Vietnam lost to the Philippines, 0-2, in the group stage in Hanoi two years ago that spurred the Azkals to a historic semifinal run, while the Thais failed to even get past the group stages just like Myanmar.

The latest Fifa rankings showed that the top-ranked teams are in the Azkals’ group, but Younghusband said the other bracket playing in Kuala Lumpur will also be a dogfight.

“I think both groups are tough,” said the Filipino-British forward, who along with brother James returned to the side last month after they were dropped from the Peace Cup due to commitment issues.

Phil said the issues surrounding their dropping from the team are water under the bridge.

“We’ve already spoken to boss Dan (Palami) and coach (Michael) Weiss,” said Phil. “It’s a matter of communication.”

Younghusband believes the recent rise in the rankings have given the side a huge confidence boost, although the Azkals’ chances will still boil down to the composition of the squad.

“Sometimes we have players available who can play teams in the high 100s, sometimes we don’t,” he said. “So I don’t think ranking will really matter. But psychologically, it does show our progress.”