Azkals won 2-1 to kick off FIFA World Cup (2018) Qualifier
Source: http://www.interaksyon.com/interaktv/azkals-stun-bahrain-to-kick-off-fifa-world-cup-qualifiers-campaign
The Philippine national men’s football team stunned Bahrain with a 2-1 win to open its FIFA World Cup qualifiers campaign on a high note on Thursday night at the Philippine Sports Stadium in Bulacan.
Midfielder Misagh Bahadoran, who came in as a substitute to replace the hobbled Azkals star Stephan Schrock, and striker Javier Patino buried goals in the second half to propel the 127th-ranked Azkals past the 106th-ranked Bahrain, a squad they had not defeated in their past two friendly meetings.
The win also gave the Azkals three points and the early lead in Group H of the qualifiers.
Two teams battled in a tight first half where the taller Bahrain side got initial looks on offense.
The Azkals suffered a huge blow when star player Schrock was hurt at the 24th minute and was forced to leave the game.
He was replaced by Bahadoran who turned things around for the Azkals after opening the floodgates in the second half.
Five minutes after the break, he received a nice cross from Phil Younghusband, playing in the midfield, from the left flank. The Filipino-Iranian then slotted in a one-footed flick right in front of the goal to put the Filipinos ahead, 1-nil.
A bizarre sequence then happened as players from both sides, after the match turned physical, got involved in a heated commotion which saw a Bahraini player fake a hit by an Azkal that the referee didn’t bite.
The Azkals got some measure revenge though, as Patino drilled a rebound goal at the 59th minute after saving a deflected pass by new recruit Iain Ramsay intended to Bahadoran.
Bahadoran almost tripled the Azkals lead at the 75th minute but his header went wide off the post. The Azkals then held their ground for the majority of the game before yielding a goal to Al
Malood Abdulwahad in injury time.
However, that wasn’t enough for Bahrain to overcome its deficit as the Azkals came away with the victory before no less than 6,000 fans who trooped to the stadium.
It was the first win of the Azkals against Bahrain after earlier settling for a scoreless draw in 2012 and a 2-1 loss just last March.
The Azkals will next face the 165ht-ranked Yemen on June 16 in Qatar.
For highlights of the Philippines goals, see it here:
No comments:
Post a Comment