Bruised Azkals fall short

Bangkok— Juani Guirado showed up for breakfast wearing a band-aid covering his busted lip. Phil Younghusband also sustained a couple of cuts at the top of his left eye covered. The two players hardly looked like footballers, but boxers fresh out of a prizefight, their valiant effort just falling short.

Thailand won the war on the pitch, left the Philippines bruised and bloodied and put its hopes of advancing to the semifinals of the AFF Suzuki Cup in peril with a narrow 1-2 victory at the Rajamangala Stadium.

The crowd on a rainy Saturday night was not as intimidating as the Azkals had expected with just about 20 percent of the 80,000-seater stadium filled.

On the pitch, though, the cohesive and patient Thais were ruthless just the same with their fluid play, quick movement and passing game. They scored two quickfire goals late in the first half to gain enough cushion when the Filipinos tried to mount a fightback.

Paul Mulders pulled a goal back in 77th minute—his first international goal for the country—but it -wasn’t enough as Thailand kept possession in the final minutes and preserved the well-deserved win that put the hosts on top of Group A.

Vietnam and Myanmar fought to a 1-1 draw in the opening match to notch their first points of the tournament.

PH  faces

Vietnam next

With the loss, the Filipinos have no choice but to win their next game against the Vietnamese, whom they defeated, 2-0, in Hanoi two years ago in the country’s most famous result to date in the 16-year history of the tournament.

“We coped well in the first 20 minutes, but we could not sustain it and we lost that game in those five minutes late in the first half,” said Azkals coach Michael Weiss. “We lost our rhythm when Phil was going in and out of the game getting treatment.”

The Azkals, who missed Denis Wolf to an ankle injury and Demit Omphroy to illness, were playing one man short for about 10 minutes in the first 20 as Younghusband got treatment twice because of his injury – first for an accidental clash of heads and second for a flailing arm of a Thai defender.

Overall, though, the Philippines struggled in its buildup play, offered little attacking threat and except for Younghusband racing clear only Chonlatit Jantakam to make a crucial tackle in nine minutes into the match.

It didn’t take long for Thailand to settle into the match and find the goal that lifted the spirits of the homecrowd who braved the downpour.

Jakkapan Pornsai opened the scoring from close range in the 39th minute, after some good linkup play by Teerasil Dangda and Theerathon Bunmathan on the right flank. The Azkals went 0-2 down two minutes later as Anucha Kitpongsri finished off a fine team move from the backline, faking Ray Jonsson and rounding out Azkals keeper Ed Sacapano.   /inquirer with reports from mars Alison