MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Azkals rode on the four-goal explosion of Mark Hartmann to cut visiting Papua New Guinea to pieces, 5-0, in a one-sided victory that left coach Thomas Dooley “half-happy” Sunday night at Rizal Memorial Stadium.
Hartmann took just two minutes to find the back of the net against the Papuans, opening a floodgate that saw him make three more in the 10th, 19th and third minute of stoppage time in a fiery first-half for the home side.
Phil Younghusband, who played No. 10 position in the midfield, also connected on a 1v1 at the 41st minute to complete scoring for Phl.
The Azkals, though, lost some of the fluidity and shooting accuracy of the first with massive changes after the restart couldn’t score any further.
“I’m very happy with the first half. It was good, more than good, actually, and let’s say, it was almost great; we did exactly what we wanted to – score goals. But in the second half, I’m not very happy and obviously not satisfied as we didn’t score any more,” said Dooley.
Ranged against a lower-ranked Oceanic side that has only played its second international match in the last two years, the Azkals quickly turned on the heat to the delight of the decent-sized crowd who expected no less than a rout.
Dooley started the Greatwich brothers, Chris and Simon, who complemented Younghusband well at the middle and helped create attacking opportunities.
With a 5-nil edge, Dooley switched personnel and sent in Anton del Rosario and young guns Paolo Bugas, Curt Dizon and Kenshiro Daniels to start the second half. James Younghusband and Manny Ott also came in later on.
Dooley said he wasn’t bothered about the ill effects of the personnel switches.
“It’s normal. I would say it happens 70 percent of the time when a team is leading 5-nothing and has the game totally in their hands. They slow down a little bit, think it’s too easy and the other team suddenly has a little more room they start playing and it’s difficult to come back.