MANILA, June 20 ------ The Philippine men's national football team endured a heart-breaking loss against Chinese Taipei, 3-2 at the Rizal Memorial Complex. The Azkals fell short of sweeping their two-game friendlies.
Chinese Taipei started the match with an early 1-0 lead to set the tone after Wu Yen-shu's goal that clocked in with only over a minute in the game. But the Filipinos were fired up by their opponents' early goal and were quick to answer, tying the game at one goal apiece after Mike Ott scored a goal in the 13th minute. Before the end of the first half, the Azkals continued to roll and were poised to take over the match after Patrick Reichelt scored yet another goal in the 39th minute, allowing them to take a 2-1 lead heading into the second frame.
But even before the Filipinos tried to break away, Yao-Hsing Yu was the spoiler after he produced Chinese Taipei's second score in the 57th minute to tie the game at 2-2. Both teams figured in a push-and-pull affair thereafter, with the two squads not being able to translate their attempts into points right until the final minute of the game. Ming-Wei Lin had other plans, scoring the go-ahead goal in the dying seconds of the match right before the extra period to allow Chinese Taipei to win the game.
Despite the loss, Azkals' mentor Michael Weiss was still in high spirits and emphasized that in this window, it is not necessarily the wins or losses that count. "We take risks. I'm not interested so much in results now. I'm more interested that we create chances, that we have opportunities, that we put the gas in the pedal, that we are active, and that's what we're doing. We took a risk also with the young players, we wanted to give them a chance. I needed to see in this window who we can trust."
Source: news.abs-cbn.com
Comments