THE Azkals face Bahrain, in an away match this time, of the International Federation of Association Football (Fifa) World Cup Qualifiers, boosted by their scoreless draw with North Korea last week.
The Philippines-Bahrain match is set at 11 p.m. (Manila time) on Tuesday at the Bahrain National Stadium in East Riffa.
The Azkals shocked Bahrain in their first meeting, 2-1, at home, in the qualifiers kickoff on June 11 at Philippine Sports Stadium in Bocaue, Bulacan.
After their 2019 World Cup qualifiers chance glimmered, the No. 134 Filipinos will be playing with confidence as they try to end a two-game road trip on a high note.
The 123rd -ranked Bahrainis, on the other hand, are expected to be hungrier coming into the match after a heart pounding 0-4 home loss to Uzbekistan on Thursday.
The Azkals are still on track to advancing to the next round. They have seven points with a 2-1-1 win-draw-loss record behind second-placed Uzbekistan (3-0-1) with nine points and top seed North Korea (3-1-0) with 10. Bahrain is in fourth with three points on a 1-0-3 slate.
Only the top team from each group and the four best second-seeded teams will move to the second round of the qualifiers, which will earn an outright spot in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup in 2019. The teams that will not make it will go through the Asian Cup Qualifiers.
The Thomas Dooley-coached booters could still miss striker Javier Patino because of a hamstring injury. Patino nailed the second goal in their first meeting against Bahrain.
But all eyes will be still on Azkals’ pesky defense, anchored on goalie Neil Etheridge and defenders Amani Aguinaldo, Luke Woodland and Jerry Lucena, who all played excellent defense that forced that scoreless draw against North Korea.
Misagh Bahadoran, who scored the first goal against Bahrain, along with Phil Younghusband, Stephan Schrock, Martin Steuble, Daisuke Sato, Manny Ott, and the rest of the Azkals are all expected to flaunt a good showing in the away match to keep the World Cup hopes alive.