AFTER a disappointing 1-1 draw against Myanmar in Manila three days ago, the Philippines goes for an all-important win against Laos tonight in their Group B match in the AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup in the Laotian capital of Vientiane.
In the first game of Spanish coach Albert Capellas in front of a hometown crowd at the Rizal Memorial Stadium, the Filipino booters squandered their many early chances, fell behind 0-1 at the break, before settling for a 1-all tie to avoid humiliation to the lightly-regarded visitors.
Bjorn Martin Davis Kristensen saved the hosts from embarassment in converting a penalty kick in the 72nd minute after MaungMaungLwin had given the visitors the early lead from free kick on the fringe of the penalty area in the 25 minute.
The dismal outcome left national team manager Freddy Gonzales disappointed, saying: “The game should have beend a win for us, 100 percent three points. We should have killed this game in the first 20 to 30 minutes and should have been over.”
A former national booter himself, Gonzalez pointed to the Nationals’ lack of finishing touch as the culprit, noting that “not finishing your chances was the main issue.
“That’s what happen when your playerrs become frustrated when they lose their concentration: youy make mistakes outside the box. That’s what we gave Myanmar, it is deflating and increases the pressure on us. It’s crazy.”
He also observed the Filipinos’s lack of defensive intensity, observing that “they (the defenders) were scared. I don’t know if they were nervous. They were making a lot of bad passes, a lot of bad decisions.
“But at this level they should be calm, relaxed we don’t need to rush. We had control of the game. All you need to do is clear the ball pass to the goalie. Like what they used to say when we were kids: ‘When in doubt, kick it out.’”
Philippine Football Federation president John Gutierrez shared some of Gonzalez’s sentiments.
“It’s just unlucky. You could not get more unlucky in the 100 minutes of the game,” Gutierrez noted.
But he remained upbeat “and I feel that with the with the players we have now, we will be able to go far and deep in the Mitsubishi Electric Cup.”
Gonzalez believed that the Laotians could be beaten on their home turf.
