Azkals secure historic 3rd place

KATHMANDU – Bronze also glitters for the Philippine Azkals.

Making up for their botched shot at a finals stint, the Azkals played with all their hearts to hold off Palestine, 4-3, and cop third place honors in the AFC Challenge Cup at the Dashrath Stadium here yesterday.

The podium finish, unexpected from a heavy underdog, was the best achievement so far for a side rising inch-by-inch in the international scene.

With this, the Azkals surpassed their breakthrough semifinal appearance in the AFF Suzuki Cup in 2010, the feat that actually set off “Azkals-mania.”

“I think after this match, no one can say it went the way anyone wished ahead of the match. It was just like a thriller, a do-or-die fight and we’re a little bit lucky in the end,” said Azkals coach Michael Weiss after his crew capped their Cinderella run in the tourney with a bang.

The Azkals celebrated as if it were a title conquest. Players locked arms and jumped at centerfield singing “Ole, Ole,Ole.” Weiss gave sub goalkeeper Eduard Sacapano a bear hug for a good job filling in for suspended Neil Etheridge. Arms raised up as about 100 Filipino fans cheered their voices out.

Can’t blame the team for feeling like real champions. 

Besieged by off-field controversies and hardly given a chance, the Azkals emerged as the “surprise package” of the meet, going all the way to the semifinals for the very first time. They narrowly missed a milestone championship appearance with 1-2 heartbreaker to Turkmenistan Friday.

“I think overall, we deserved to be on third place. Props to my team for never giving up, for showing the fighting spirit and setting up fantastic goals,” said Weiss.

“It was a tightrope but we pulled through,” team manager Dan Palami said, for his part. “It’s a happy occasion for us. I hope our fellow Filipinos are equally happy with the win. Coming in we were fighting different battlefronts. Credit goes to the guys for pulling through setting aside other issues and focusing on the game.”

He described this campaign as a “testament to Filipino pride.”

“Coming in, it was our target to be in the semifinals now we’ve reached it and could have done more so I’m just glad. It’s a testament to what Filipino pride is,” said Palami.

Offensively, the Azkals drew huge lifts from Phil Younghusband (4’ and 24’) and the Guirado brothers Angel (41’) and Juani (68’). 

Younghusband’s brace, upping his tally to a tournament-high six goals, made him a strong candidate for the Golden Boot award at press time. 

“It’s one of the strongest tournaments we entered. What makes it special is without my teammates, I wouldn’t be able to do this. We just clicked. The ball was in the right place and the right time. We made it hard for ourselves, especially when the match ends, it was more of relief than happiness.

“I think we’re happy and were relieved. We can play much better than that. I know once we can get goals we can control the game. We made history again and it’s an amazing feeling,” said Younghusband.

There was tremendous pressure from a goal-seeking Palestine, especially in the last stretch but the Azkals hung tough. Sacapano punched out a potential equalizer and hat trick from Abdulhamid Abuhabib. Juani cleanly tackled a streaking Ashraf Alfawaghra for a clear-out in stoppage time.

Getting a through ball from Chieffy Caligdong, Younghusband skillfully skirted three defenders before knocking a left-footed shot against Ramzi SA Saleh to open scoring. After Attal made it even (21’) but Younghusband gamely connected on the penalty shot won by Caligdong to restore a 2-1 lead.

Angel Guirado followed Younghusband’s acts with his own one-on-one incursion, set up by a nice pass from James Younghusband as the Azkals entered the break ahead, 3-1.

Abuhabib fired his second goal of the match as Palestine closed in at the 67th, 3-2, but the Azkals quickly went on counter with Juani Guirado slotting in his first international goal for Phl off a feed from James Younghusband, 4-2.

Attal made the Azkals pay for a defensive lapse at the 78th minute but the Phl fended off the Palestinians attack the rest of the way.