GERMAN coach Michael Weiss described it as “D-Day.”
The Azkals open their campaign against favored Vietnam today in Group F of the second round of the AFC World Cup and Asian Cup qualifiers before an anticipated packed crowd at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium.
“This is now D-Day for us. It is D-Day as far as the results are concerned. Vietnam is going into this game as the heavy favorite but they will have a very hard time,” Weiss noted in the pre-match press conference yesterday.
Under the helm of veteran French coach Philippe Troussier over the last eight months, the Golden Star Warriors, Vietnam’s moniker, have risen to No. 94 in the FIFA men’s world rankings, 44 rungs above the Azkals.
The visitors have won five their last seven meetings against the hosts, the last a close 0-1 decision in a friendly in October last year when Weiss was not still the mentor of the Azkals.
The German tactician warned that “if they (the Vietnamese) want to beat us, they really want to invest everything. This is what I promise and this is what I demand from the team and from the man beside me.”
Weiss was referring to team captain and goalkeeper Neil Etheridge, who echoed the coach’s sentiments and looked forward to playing to a sellout hometown gallery, just like what the Azkals enjoyed during their heydays.
While generally satisfied with the progress of their build-up to the World Cup and Asian Cup qualifiers, Weiss said he wanted a bit more aggression and physicality from his charges against the Vietnamese.
Etheridge said that he expected he and his teammates to play “with a chip on our shoulders and with a hunger of squad with something to prove. It doesn’t guarantee anything tomorrow night but we know that we are going to give everything.
“It (the game) will be very tough but if we can spring a surprise, it will be fantastic. We have to give everything out there and literally die on the pitch,” Weiss stressed.
The Philippine Football Federation has mobilized its resources to fill the 12,000-seat arena with at least 10,000 hometown fans.
