WHILE acknowledging that it will be “do-or-die” for both squads, Azkals coach Michael Weiss will try to exploit the vulnerabilities of Indonesia when they play in a pivotal Group F match in the second round of the joint AFC World Cup and Asian Cup qualifiers at the Rizal Memorial Stadium tonight.
“No doubt about, it will be a do-or-die for either of our squads tonight but we will try our best to get a very important win,” Weiss said yesterday in the pre-match press conference at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium media room.
Both sides are coming off setbacks in their opening matches, with the Azkals falling to Vietnam 0-2 and the Merah Putih (the Red and Whites), as the Indonesian squad is known, absorbing a 1-5 beating from Iraq in the Iraqi city of Basra last week.
The German tactician expects the 7 p.m. game to be a dogfight for survival for either squad to remain in contention for the two available slots in the group for the next round.
“If we don’t win it will be very difficult to advance to the next round. But if we put our imprint on the game, and as usual if we have a little luck that we didn’t have in the last game, then we can do it,” stressed Weiss, who was accompanied in the briefing by defender Christian Rontini.
