Returning Azkals score twin victories in Asia 7s tourney

SHAH ALAM, Malaysia – The Philippine Azkals trumpeted their return to international football with two quickfire victories in the Asia 7s Championship Thursday night at the EV Arena here.

Bringing their skills to the fast-paced game of 7-a-side, the current iteration of the Azkals hit the ground running in Group B with a 6-1 romp over Hong Kong amid heavy downpour then defeated host Malaysia in a scuffle-marred duel, 4-3.

Mark Hartmann fired a hat trick while skipper Stephan Schrock delivered the dagger goal in the comeback period as the Filipinos turned back the home boys in the battle for pole position between sides with 1-0 starts. The Malaysians earlier beat India, 5-1.

The Azkals pulled this off despite the ejection of veteran Daisuke Sato at the 34th minute of the second half. The Filipino-Japanese took down Abdul Manaf after a collision, triggering a bench-clearing incident before calmer heads eventually prevailed.

Schrock expressed confidence the Azkals can contend here.

“We have a solid team with a good mix of players like myself, Misagh and Marky who are more experienced and younger players,” said Schrock.

“What also helps us is that 7-a-side is a good mix between the usual 11-a-side and futsal and we have experts of both here. We have Hamed (Hajimahdi) coaching us and he’s got a pretty strong background from futsal and Darren (Hartmann) who’s a very tactical guy in-11-a-side so they bring both ideas together and work out to each players’ strength.”

For Shrock and company, there’s a strong sense of responsibility in reviving and carrying the Azkals moniker, which has already been disused by the Philippine national team.

“Azkals goes hand in hand with Philippine football. You can’t take that out and it’s good that it’s attached to something like the 7s where they’re trying to build it from scratch,” said the Fil-German dynamo.

“When Boss Dan (Palami) took over football, it was also more of a scratch work and building on a solid foundation. That’s what they (proponents of the 7-a-side) are doing right now and we’re very grateful and blessed that we can be part of that.”