Salas saves Little Azkals from shutout on Day 2

Javier Romero-Salas saved the Little Azkals from a shutout yesterday after his lone goal allowed the Philippine Under 14 football team to win one of their three matches in the second day of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Under 14 Festival of Football 2012 Southeast Asia Region at the Stadium Likas in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah Malaysia.

The Little Azkals Team 2 edged Timor Leste, 1-0, in their last match after conceding its first match of the day against Singapore, 0-1. Its Team 1 also bowed to Indonesia, 0-3.

As the first format ended yesterday, the Little Azkals managed 3 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses.

Under pressure to win their last game of the day, the Little Azkals started aggressively and did not let up, which resulted to Timor Leste only managing three attempts. Two were saved by Team 2 goalkeeper Harrel Rainier Dayan while the other one went over the bar.

After scoring his first goal on a one-on-one situation, Romero-Salas had two other attempts but was unable to convert them to goals.

In their match against Singapore, the Little Azkals Team 2 fought hard but was undone by a corner kick that Singapore was able to convert.

In the Little Azkals Team 1 match against Indonesia, the score would not have stopped at three if not for the saving skills of Jose Anton Yared, who managed to thwart six attempts of the Indonesians.

Little Azkals goalkeeping coach Noel Marcaida said he is very satisfied with the performance of both goalkeepers.

“During the warm-up, I work more on their mental aspect. I always tell them to stay focused and organized. They have to read the situation before it happens so they will not have a hard time,” Marcaida said.

He added that both Yared and Dayan have been consistent in their commanding aspect.

Little Azkals assistant coach Eliezer Fabroada said that the reason why they lost yesterday was that the boys were unable to control the center, which allowed their opponents to penetrate and give their back four a hard time.

The back four would have favored a tighter center because it had to undergo an adjustment as Moiselle Angelo Alforque is still unable to play while he is still recovering from food poisoning.

Because of the adjustment, Ray Vincent Sanciangco had to be brought out of the middle while John William Abraham had to replace Alforque. The adjustment also caused miscommunication in the back 4.

Alforque may join his teammates during the second format of the tournament, which will start tomorrow.

Today, all participating teams will have a rest from the matches as they will only be subjected to a skills test.

The Little Azkals will have their skills test at 9:15 a.m. alongside the Laos team.