Powerhouse Icheon fancied over Azkals

MANILA, Philippines - Bearing the pedigree of a typical football team from Asian powerhouse South Korea, visiting Icheon Citizen FC will obviously have the edge against a still-fledging Azkals United side in Saturday’s “KIA Rio Cup” charity game at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium.

But the reigning Challengers Cup champions in the K3 League wouldn’t want to fall into a false sense of security and be overconfident against the home team, knowing the Azkals’ capability to crank it up in front of their countrymen.

“We are impressed by the big scores the Azkals have made in their wins over Nepal and Sri Lanka,” Icheon coach Hyun Chang Lee said, referring to the identical 4-0 routs hacked out by the Azkals at home over Nepal in a Fifa friendly and Sri Lanka in the first round of the Fifa World Cup Asian Qualifiers.

“We are very curious about them, but they seem like a dynamic team,” he added.

The Citizen will be led by captain Joo Won Moon, the 2011 Korea K3 MVP and Top League scorer, and star players Ji Hoon Yang, a mainstay of the Korea National College Team, and Jae Young Jin, a Korean National Team player, in the fund-raising event produced by Dragon Promotions and ABS-CBN Sports. 

Pride will also play a role for the visiting Icheon booters, the boss among 18 teams in the K3, the third-tier league in Korea that serves as a direct feeder into Korea’s elite pro teams.

“There is pressure of course on us as Koreans have never lost to Philippines in football. But all we can is our best,” said Lee, who has half a dozen championship tucked under his belt back home.

Not a full-strength Phl team, Azkals United will lean on an assembly led Phil and James Younghusband and Chieffy Caligdong.

Analyst Bob Guerrero, noting the high level of football in Korea, said it would be a good test for the Azkals United.

“Everybody in the Philippine Football community knows how good Korean football is. Korean players are very fit and technically excellent. We know Icheon Citizen will give the Azkals a torrid test. I think it’s great that our national team is being tested with these tough tuneup games before the Challenge Cup.”

“The Azkals need to play more with all their best players together, as frequently as possible. They need to learn more on how to stay together under fire against good teams like Madrid, LA Galaxy, and now Korea. Then the result will be a team that binds together further and the interest in the sport of football growing in numbers,” veteran sports analyst Ronnie Nathanielsz, said for his part.

The match will kick off at 7 p.m. with proceeds going to victims of typhoon “Sendong.” Broadcaster ABS-CBN added the families affected by a recent landslide in Compostela Valley to the beneficiaries for the match.

Meanwhile, the Philippines has moved up two notches to 157th in the latest monthly world rankings released by Fifa yesterday. Icheon Citizen FC’s nation, Korea, ranks 30th, also two places better than their Dec. 2011 position.