Azkals play Malaysians to scoreless draw

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Azkals once against held their ground against regional powerhouse Malaysia, battling the host Tigers to a scoreless draw in their Fifa international friendly Friday night at the Shah Alam Stadium in Malaysia.

The result was basically a repeat of their first showdown over at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium in Manila four months ago that ended in a 1-1 stalemate,  giving Azkals coach Michael Weiss positive vibes as they look ahead to the real wars in the AFF Suzuki Cup in November.

“Overall, it was a great result. We got a taste of playing the AFF Cup champions (Malaysia) on their own ground and we will know what it will be like in six months,” Weiss said in a report in New Straits Times.

The Azkals played without ace goalkeeper Neil Etheridge and starters Phil and James Younghusband. Etheridge served his one-game suspension as penalty for his remarks in the sidelines of the Azkals’ bronze medal match against Palestine in the AFC Challenge Cup while the Younghusband brothers were tied up with a previous commitment.

“Congratulations boys, good result! Defended well out there! See you all back in Manila!” twitted Etheridge, who will be back in front of the goal in the Azkals’ next friendly, on Tuesday night against Indonesia at Rizal.

Fil-German Roland Muller manned the goal for the Azkals, holding his ground against the Malaysians’ searing assault, especially in the last 45 minutes.

“In the second half, Malaysia put more pressure on us and we got a bit lucky at the end and our keeper made fine saves,” said Weiss.

Hoffenheim’s Stephen Schrock saw action for the Azkals for the first time in 11 months, figuring in most of Phl’s chances in the first half. Pouncing on a horrible backpass by Azmi Muslim, Schrock threatened to round custodian Farizal Marlias but the Tigers’ keeper recovered in time to quash the threat.

Malaysia dominated possession and had more attempts at goal but just couldn’t finish against the resilient Azkals.

“We can be happy that we created 15 or 16 chances. We played well against a physical side, it was a high tempo game and I could not ask for more,” Malaysia coach K. Rajagobal said in the same NST report.

“Of course, we missed chances which could have finished the game but I’m not worried about that. I just wanted to see how the combination of the strikers worked,” he added.

The Azkals flew back home yesterday and shifted their focus on their home match against the Indons, Phl XI’s conquerors in the semis of the 2010 Suzuki Cup.