Wary Azkals expect worst in Lions’ den

MANILA, Philippines - Three-time champion Singapore Lions vowed to gave the Philippine Azkals a tough time at home when they dispute a finals seat in tomorrow’s second leg of the 2012 AFF Suzuki Cup semifinals at Jalan Besar Stadium.

Veteran defender Daniel Bennett, a member of the 2004 and 2007 champion sides, said if the Azkals found it hard to beat them on home soil, it would be much tougher to do so against a determined home team, in front of a hostile crowd.

The Azkals and the Lions fought to a scoreless draw in a physical first leg at the Rizal Memorial last Saturday, adding more spice to the high-stakes return match at the latter’s turf.

“I think they (Azkals) know when they come to Singapore it is going to be even harder for them. We’ll be waiting for them in Singapore. I think it is going to be a tough game for them,” Bennett said after the match at The Rizal Memorial Stadium.

Bennett is English-born player who switched nationality to play for Singapore in 2002. Interestingly, he made his international debut against the Phl. 

Looking back at the first leg, he rued how the Lions bungled their scoring chances.

“Away goals count in this tournament so we wanted to score (in Manila). In the first half, I thought we had three to four really wonderful chances as we really had them (Azkals) on the backfoot,” he said.

With the 0-0 standoff and no away goal scored in Manila, the Lions need to beat the Azkals at home to advance. On the other hand, the Pinoy booters only have to force a scoring draw to nail a milestone finals stint.

The Azkals packed their bags for Singapore yesterday morning, upbeat that they can pull it off in the end.

“We start from zero (in the Singapore leg) but a victory or a scoring draw and we are through. I am positive that we will play better in Singapore than we did (at Rizal),” said Azkals coach Michael Weiss.

The German mentor said the Azkals “can just get better” from what he described as a “normal performance” in the first leg. He expects the Azkals to regain their energy after the three day lull and looks forward to newly arrived Jerry Lucena to add stability to the midfield and defender Dennis Cagara to be jet-lag free and stronger in defense. 

“I think we’ll have good chances in Jalan Besar,” he said.