Azkals garner first win in Suzuki Cup vs Singapore

Great 3 points in the @affsuzukicup first game, first 3 points, first clean sheet! Game 2 Saturday in KL! Thank you for all those who watched! @PHI_Azkals #togetherness #team #azkals #philippines #football (Photo: @neil38etheridge/Twitter)

The Philippine professional football team are off to a good start under the leadership of new head coach Sven-Goran Eriksson as they win their first game against Singapore on their home field in Pana-ad Park and Stadium, Bacolod last Tuesday, November 13 for the 2018 ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Suzuki Cup. The Filipinos scored one goal against the Singaporeans who were unable to score any.

The first half started slowly for both teams until the 76th minute where Patrick Reichelt, who troubled the Singaporean centre-backs the entire game, finally got his glory as Phil Younghusband passes him the ball leading him to fire it to the back of the net. At that point, Reichelt was also going head-to-head against Sunny Hassan.

In the words of Eriksson on his debut as part of the Philippine Azkals, “It’s a very big win, a very important win,” mentioning the three points added to the team’s name needed to proceed to the next round. He added, “I think we deserve it. I think we were the better team, one-nil, it could have been two so I’m very happy.”’

In response to Eriksson’s statement, Singapore’s head coach Fandi Ahmad told the media that he was “a bit disappointed that [they] didn’t get at least a point.” He said, “We allowed them (the Azkals) to score, as they built up from a throw-in so I hope the boys learn from this and take it into the next game.” Coach Fandi still congratulated their opponents nonetheless concluding, “They did their best while we were unlucky with injuries,” referring to the loss of forwards Faris Ramil and Sharhril Ishak in the middle of the game.

The next team Singapore will face is Timor-Leste at the National Stadium on November 21, while the Azkals are anticipating their match against the same team at the Kuala Lumpur Stadium in Malaysia on November 17.