Azkals, Sri Lankans battle to 1-1 standoff

MANILA, Philippines - If it were the strongest Philippine football team assembled, it wasn’t on full display last night as the Azkals salvaged a 1-1 draw against Sri Lanka in the 2014 Fifa World Cup Asian Qualifiers in Colombo.

Seemingly slowed down by unfamiliarity with the hard surface of the Sugathadasa Stadium’s pitch, the Azkals fell behind by goal and needed a header from substitute Nate Burkey (50’) and a great save from goalie Neil Etheridge in stoppage time to escape with the draw heading into Sunday’s second leg in Manila.

“Overall, we’re happy with the 1-1 result. At least we’re playing on Sunday without a deficit,” said Philippine Football Federation president Mariano Araneta, who only watched the game on TV.

A 1-1 scoreline is surely more favorable for the Filipinos than an 0-1 deficit when they play again at the Rizal Memorial Stadium on Sunday. A scoreless draw will be enough to earn the Azkals a berth in the second round against seeded Kuwait by virtue of winning on the away goal.

“With this, Sri Lanka will no longer play defensive (in the Manila game), they will surely go for goals and this will open up the game and I’m sure the Azkals will benefit from this, having the superior skills overall,” Araneta said.

If Sunday’s match ends up in another 1-1 draw, a 30-minute extension will ensue to settle the outcome of the tie. But if it winds up at 2-2, the Brave Reds will advance owing to higher away goals.

“We’ll go for a win to avoid complications,” the PFF head said.

The Azkals, having hard time adjusting to the hard field, played sluggishly in the first half, yielding a goal on the 43rd when Chathura Guranarathna blasted a 30-yard shot past the Phl wall off a free kick.

Fil-Am Burkey was at the right place at the right time in a key situation at the 50th, just 10 minutes after checking in for injured Phil Younghusband (hamstring).  James Younghusband’s header off Chieffy Caligdong’s free-kick was partly deflected by Sri Lanka goalie Manjula Fernando but Burkey followed it up and headed it in for the equalizer.

“The team was quite sluggish in the first half, I would say they only showed 60 percent of their power. But they picked up in the second half and played 80 percent of their potential,” Araneta noted.

“They haven’t adjusted fully to the field, which you can see is really bad. They couldn’t really play well on that pitch. This was evident when Chieffy was going on a one and one and couldn’t control the ball because of the different bounce presented by the field,” Araneta added.

The Azkals nearly blew it on stoppage time when Anton Nimal Fernando found a clear path for a shot but Etheridge lunged and tapped it out.