THE Philippine Azkals were forced to settle for a frustrating 1-all draw against Indonesia last Tuesday night at the Rizal Memorial Stadium, leaving their hopes of advancing to the next round of the joint World Cup and Asian Cup qualifiers in peril.
Following a dominant first-half performance that produced many chances for the host team, veteran striker Patrick Reichelt finally scored the icebreaker in the 23rd minute, much to the delight of the predominantly Filipino crowd of 9,980 that showed up.
Those scoring opportunities would haunt the Nationals in the second half as they failed to sustain their momentum and lost their sharpness on both ends of the pitch, resulting in Sadil Ramdani’s equalizer in the 70th minute.
With defender Daisuke Sato caught off-guard, Ramdani found a sliver of light in the right wing and his left-footed blast inside the box hit the top left of the net beyond the reach of goalkeeper and skipper Neil Etheridge.
The outcome left both squads with one point each, with the Philippines in third place on goal difference while Indonesia remained in last place in the four-team Group F.
In the other match, Iraq nipped Vietnam 1-0 at the My Dinh National Stadium in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi to remain on top of the group with their second straight win while relegating their rivals to second place with a 1-1 record.
Compounding the Azkals’ woes was youthful defender Santiago Republico getting his second yellow card during the match, meriting an automatic one-game suspension for the team’s next game abroad against the crack Iraqis in March 2024.
