Little Azkals beat Malaysians to split matches

PHILIPPINE Under-14 team captain Darius Joseph “Jed” Ramos Diamante scored two goals against Malaysia yeaterday that allowed the Little Azkals to split their matches in the Japan-East Asean Football Exchange Programme U-14 Youth Football Festival held at the J-Green Sakai, in Osaka Japan.

Prior to beating Malaysia, 2-1, yesterday afternoon, the Little Azkals bowed to Indonesia, 0-2, in the morning. After the bitter loss to the Indons, Diamante vowed to rebound in the next game.

“I feel very happy because Malaysia is a big team and I was able to help the team win. I was also able to bring back glory to the country,” said the 14 year-old Diamante of the Ateneo de Davao University.

The central midfield/striker though, paid a dear price for his goal in the 8th minute after he was hit by Malaysia’s goalkeeper with his boot in the stomach and right arm.

Diamante was chasing the ball served to him by Marco Alessandro Casambre when he found himself in a one-on-one situation with Malaysia’s goalkeeper.

“I lobbed the ball over the keeper then the last thing I saw was the keeper with his spikes about to hit me,” said Diamante who had to be taken out for treatment.

PH IN 2ND SPOT

However, despite a painful bruise on his stomach and right arm, Diamante scored another goal five minutes later to peg the final count.

The win allowed the Philippines to stay in second place behind Japan and Indonesia with 2 wins and 1 loss. Japan and Indonesia are tied with 2 wins and a draw each. Singapore is in third with a win, a draw and a loss while both Malaysia and Brunei have yet to win a game. Malaysia though is better placed because it has one draw.

In the match against Indonesia, the Little Azkals started out strong but were undone when Indonesia scored in the 17th and 22nd minutes.

Today, the Little Azkals will go up against leader Japan.

“All matches are important to us but we have targeted Japan to gauge the team’s capacity because Japan is very good technically,” Little Azkals head coach Oliver “Bingbing” Colina explained.

Japan’s women’s team had won the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Germany in 2011 while its men’s team won the 2011 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup.  /CORRESPONDENT MARS G. ALISON