Scrappy Azkals rip Nepalese, 4-to-nil

MANILA, Philippines - Phil Younghusband anchored the attack for the Philippine side out to cap the year with a brilliant performance on home field, leading the Azkals to a 4-0 rout of Nepal last night in their Fifa-sanctioned international friendly at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.

Younghusband pulled off a near hat-trick exactly a month after his mother Susan passed away, knocking in two goals as the 166th-ranked Azkals bounced back from their 0-2 setback to Singapore in previous friendly last week with a resounding victory over the 135th ranked team.

“Every game, we want to work hard 110 percent but from now on, it will be more special as we’re dedicating it to my (late) mom and dad,” said the 24-year-old striker, who at one point of their training left camp with older bro James to attend to their mom’s wake.

Getting a good delivery from Paul Mulders at the 17th minute, Younghusband worked his way to position to fire a roller that gave the 3,000 spectators who took time to watch the week-day friendly a big reason to cheer about.

James got into the fray 12 minutes later, pouncing on Nepal’s failure to clear to boot the leather in from about 20 yards and make it 2-0.

Phil found the net again at the 55th, converting off a pass from Dennis Cagara. And then in the 89th, he helped set up the Azkals’ fourth goal with a feed to sub Matt Hartmann that put an exclamation point to their dominance of the higher-ranked Ghorkalis.

“I had one of my better games because I’m surrounded by players who complement one another. Without them I couldn’t have scored the goals,” said the star forward who dabbles into endorsements and non-football activities, sometimes drawing criticisms from his own coach.

Azkals coach Michael Weiss said the Azkals played with intense desire to impress their countrymen in their last game of the year.

“We had a meeting and agreed that we want to end this year with a bang, as an answer to criticisms, too,” he said. “It was a very interesting to play a team 30 rungs above us (in the world rankings).”

Meanwhile, realizing the need to gather its best players for more actual games together, the Philippine Football Federation is eyeing more Fifa-sanctioned international friendlies for the Azkals against top national teams.

The Azkals played friendlies against higher-ranked Singapore (136th) and Nepal, taking advantage of the Fifa calendar days this month to bring in the pros based in Europe to assemble a full-strength side.

“We have to bring them (Europe-based players) here or somewhere during the Fifa calendar days so they can (join the Azkals and) play against other national teams,” PFF president Nonong Araneta said.

Fifa accommodates “international match days” in its calendar, the period in which clubs all over the world tend to release players to their respective national teams.

The next one is set Nov. 11-15 but the PFF may likely forego that opportunity since the dates coincide with the under-23’s campaign in the Southeast Asian Games in Indonesia.