Azkals’ B game won’t be enough vs Tajikistan

THE Philippine Azkals brought their B game to their friendly with unheralded Fiji on Thursday and nearly paid a stiff price for it, although they eventually won the match, 3-2, at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium (RMFS) in Manila.

The country’s national team scored all their goals in the first half and looked like it was ready to wrap the game up going into the next 45 minutes of play.

But the footballers from Fiji (ranked 168th in the latest FIFA rankings as against the Philippines’ 122nd) would not just go away and, at one point and in a span of perhaps just five minutes, won three unbelievable corner kicks that the Azkals gifted them, with one resulting from just a gentle nudging of the ball into the back of the net.

Before that goal, the visitors had made the count 3-1 just a few minutes into the second half, the scoreline the product of a meltdown from the fancied Filipinos.

This Fijian marker was actually a penalty kick, the same shot that Phil Younghusband had converted in the first half of the friendly-- the first between the two countries--to give the Azkals the lead, 1-0.

The Filipinos, in this corner’s opinion, could have scored more goals in the first 45 minutes but were thwarted many times by Fiji’s tireless goalkeeper, who had been made to work hard by the host from the get-go.

They, however, became a shadow of themselves in the last half and were dispossessed of the ball a number of times, to the apparent dismay of the fans of the Philippine Azkals who also apparently had thought that the encounter would be a walk in the park for the local side.

Had the match gone on beyond 90 minutes, plus added time of four, five minutes, the Fijians would have pulled the rug from under the Azkal booters’ feet.

They could, perhaps with the help of a handful of Fijian fans whose deafening cheers for their team in the second half seemed to have put some spring into the legs of their compatriots.

These fans were a noisy and exuberant lot and we mean that in a positive way, outshouting and outscreaming the 1,000 or so Filipino fans who were among the more than 1,000 who watched the game (a number that was announced by the friendly’s emcee, and happily so despite the stadium sitting 13,000 at the maximum).

They were the proverbial 12th man at the stadium, probably the counterpart of those Fijians who willed their rugby sevens team to the Olympic gold medal in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

A 3-3 deadlock or, worse, a 4-3 result in the visitors’ favor, would not exactly be an encouraging for the Azkals on Tuesday, March 27, when they battle Tajikistan (124th in the latest FIFA ranking) in a make-or-break clash for a slot in the Tier 1 Asian Cup, the region’s premier football tournament.

The Philippine national eleven had better bring their A game to the RMFS five days from now if it does not want to blow big-time its rare chance to clinch a berth in the 2019 Asian Cup for the first time.

The Azkals had also better be relentless even if they would be leading the Tajiks by three, five goals and not let their guard and their thousands of fans down.

They should also remember that regulation play is 90 minutes, not 45, and that it ain’t over until it’s over.

And, they better be better at finishing a point or the Philippine Azkals could kiss goodbye their--our--once in a lifetime opportunity to finally be able to play with the big boys in the Asian Cup.