Wise moves by Weiss

This appears in the Friday February 11, 2011 edition of the Business Mirror.

Weiss moves

by rick olivares with pic by brosi gonzales

In the days leading up to the match against Mongolia, the Azkals’ German head coach Hans Michael Weiss was worried about the form and fitness of some of the players on the Philippines Men’s National Football Team. “They are all coming in at different times,” said Weiss. “So it is difficult to teach a new system. We only had Neil Etheridge for two days of practice and Rob Gier one day.

The German, who has coached in Africa, Japan, and in South America has preached organization and ball control in order for the Azkals to be a more offensive-minded.

Although the team looked sloppy at times, Weiss believes it can be attributed to his squad’s growing confidence during the match versus Mongolia. “They saw that the other team was content to play defense and try to win their luck with a counter attack. Some days some players play well. On others they don’t.”

Weiss made two key moves in the second half including the substitution of defender Anton del Rosario for first-time Azkal Jason Sabio, and Simon Greatwich for Roel Gener. Greatwich, the younger brother of national team mainstays Chris and Phil, was an effective playmaker in the central midfield where he linked up with James Younghusband on the right wing. He also had some decent for some scoring chances.

As for Sabio, he looked shaky in his brief spell in the field but he had the presence of mind to continue playing when the Mongolians suddenly stopped marking him during his incursion inside the right side of the box. The Mongolians thought that the referee was going to whistle defender Garidmagnai Bayasgalan for a foul but none was forthcoming from Yu Ming Hsun, the Chinese Taipei official. The Fil-American spotted Phil Younghusband who was lurking just outside the box. The Philippine striker unleashed a powerful shot that hit Mongolian substitute defender Ganbat Bekhbat but Younghusband collected the rebound and his second volley towards the first post evaded the outstretched hands of Mongolian keeper Ganbayar Tseveensuren right before the final whistle.

“Anton was not happy being taken out but that is because he is a competitor,” explained Weiss afterwards. “And even the substitution of De Jong who didn’t seem to have much left in the tank didn’t seem to work as Sabio looked nervous out there. But you have to give credit to the boy because it’s his first match for the Philippines and he remained focused. That was the key right there for the goal of Phil Younghusband.”

With the upcoming away match with Mongolia a little over a month away, Weiss said that the team will take a week off before going to Baguio for a week of high-altitude training. “We also hope to spend about a week ourselves in Mongolia to acclimatize ourselves with the conditions and the weather.”