THE national men’s team settled for another draw—2-2 with Indonesia—on Wednesday night to stay in contention for the semifinals of the Asean Football Federation Suzuki Cup.
Team captain Phil Younghusband’s conversion in the 81st minute sealed second draw for the Azkals, whose fate lies not only on their match against defending champion Thailand on Friday, but also on the Indonesia-Singapore duel.
The draw gave the Philippines its second point in Group A, the same number across Indonesia and Singapore.
A victory over the Thais, which has never happened in 20 years of the Suzuki Cup, would automatically send the Azkals to the semifinals. But a draw would send the winner of the Indonesia-Singapore match to the next stage. If the Azkals lose from the Thais by two goals or less, and the Indonesia-Singapore encounter ends in a draw, the Philippines get a ticket to the next round.
The Philippines-Thailand duel at the Philippine Sports Stadium in Bocaue, Bulacan, will be held simultaneously, starting at 8 a.m., with the Indonesia-Singapore showdown at the Rizal Memorial Stadium on Friday.
Younghusband scored on a free kick from 25 yards out, knotting the count to what it was in the end and rendering Boas Salossa’s 68th-minute goal that gave Indonesia the lead useless.
“It was an exciting game for the fans. Not so for the coaches,” Azkals Coach Thomas Dooley said. “I think 2-2 is okay. They had a couple of chances, and better chances, but 2-2 was the most we can get.”
Dooley admitted the team continued to struggle in its second match and that they need to step up to make the semifinals for the fourth consecutive edition of the Suzuki Cup.
“Obviously, you can see that we always struggle a little bit, but this is a perfect training exercise,” the American coach said.
Thailand already clinched the first semifinals seat in Group A after a 1-0 win over Singapore through Sarawut Masuk’s game-winner in the 89th minute also on Wednesday night.
Fachruddin Aryanto scored on a header in the seventh minute to give Indonesia the go ahead, but Misagh Bahadoran struck in the 31st minute on a feed by Stephan Schrock to tie the match at 1-1.
The Indonesians were the sharper team on offense with 14 attempts, 10 of them on target—to the Azkals’ 11 attempts, with only seven on target. But the Filipinos were more aggressive with a 60-percent possession.
Thailand will be a tough test for the Philippines, which booked its best performance against the defending champions via a scoreless draw in the Suzuki Cup semifinals in 2014. And Dooley is aware Thailand won’t be complacent on Friday night.
“They don’t want to lose for the first time against us,” Dooley said. “We don’t expect them to pull back and get some players some chance to play [because they are already on to the next round].”