RP plays Malaysia in ASEAN opener

The Philippines, once the whipping team of Southeast Asian football, plays Malaysia today, gunning for no less than a semifinal stint in the Asean Football Championship which kicks off in Bangkok, Thailand.

Coach Aris Caslib believes his young squad, backstopped by Fil-foreign players headed by James Younghusband, has got what it takes to beat the Malaysians in their opening game and go on to qualify for the last four from Group A.

"Our target is the semifinal," said Caslib in an interview with Aseanfootball.org. "The quality of our players is on a par or even better than some of the Malaysian players. The playing style of Malaysia does not change. We are progressing more quickly than players competing in Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries."

Caslib took over as coach of the team ahead of the AFC in 2004 and met his target of the Philippines winning their first ever game in the tournament — a 2-1 victory over Timor Leste which came courtesy of two late goals from Emelio Caligdong.

"Before (in the Asean Football Championship) we never imagined winning," said Caslib. "But now the attitude of the team is not just to score a few goals, but to win. That is the difference from the past teams and now, we can do battle with any team in Southeast Asia."

The RP-Malaysia duel will be telecast live on STAR Sports starting at 5:30 p.m.

One downside is that star forward Philip Younghusband, who scored six goals in the AFC qualifiers in Bacolod in November when the Philippines finished second to Laos, will not see action in Bangkok.

Philip, whose brother James remains in the squad, is a reserve player with English Premiership champions Chelsea and reportedly moved on loan to Queens Park Rangers earlier this week.

"If a player scores six goals, that speaks a lot about his quality, so yes, we will miss him (Philip)," said Caslib. "But we have other players who can take on the responsibility (of scoring goals)."

The Philippines played three warm-up matches in Singapore ahead of the AFC, dropping a 1-4 decision to the senior national team, losing, 0-1, to the under-23s and beating the Olympic side, 1-0.

"Thailand is No. 1 ranked team in our group but we have a chance against Malaysia and Myanmar. It is my firm conviction that we are not far behind them (in playing standard)," said Caslib.

Meanwhile, the Philippines continued its rise in world football this month, jumping 13 places to 171st in the yearend rankings released by the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA).

From 184th in November, the Filipinos saw an improvement in their world rankings following their inspiring performance at the recent AFC qualifiers in Bacolod City where they picked up 61 points.

Despite losing, 1-2, to Laos, the Filipinos won three straight matches — 7-0 over Timor Leste; 1-0 over Cambodia; and 4-1 over Brunei, thus allowing them to clinch a spot alongside Laos for the AFC Championship.