Bleachers' Brew #270 On those lost points (breaking down the loss to Kuwait)

With Fahed Al Elenezi at the Kuwait International Airport.

This appears in the Monday July 25, 2011 edition of the Business Mirror.

On those lost points

by rick olivares

As I watched the Kuwait Men’s Football National Team put the finishing touches on a clinical display of top-notch football – a 3-nil win over the Philippines in Kuwait -- I felt bad for a couple of things.

One, for the team, that had worked so hard and is sometimes dealt terrible hands. They carry the burden of expectation not just of themselves but now a nation starved for glory.

Two, for our country that with every game, every win and every draw, hopes to stake its claim as an heir to the world game. Denied in basketball, maybe in the world game, we can be someone.

And three, it’s a sobering lesson that we have a long ways to go.

If the home matches against Mongolia and Sri Lanka taught us anything, it was the advantage of a home field game.

If there was anything that the sobering loss to Kuwait taught us is that we need more experience. And that is something not learned in the span of a week of training camp in Germany or Bahrain. There are no short cuts in sports (one that the Miami Heat can relate to). One must the highest of highs and the lowest of lows before one can build a winner.

For one scintillating half, the Philippine Men’s Football National Team showed the Kuwaitis and whoever was watching that we could be right there with the best of them. We nearly blindsided them on a couple of counter-attacks and repeatedly took possession of the ball. We forced them to be a little more defensive and cautious.

Who knows had a strike, even one strike, found the back of the net early on? That could have changed the complexion of the game.

I got to speak to midfielder Fahed Ebrahim who scored the third goal for Kuwait as they were waiting for their flight to Manila (via Kuwait Airlines) and this is what he had to say, “The Philippines made us think about our strategy and what we were doing wrong.”

Added playmaker Fahed Al Elenezi, “They made us work for our points.”

And yet Kuwait was a little craftier. Bader Al Mutwa, feared and listed as one of the top of the defensive assignments of the Azkals, was a mere decoy. Much of their earlier games showed that the ball is always funneled through him even as he plays behind their target man. Instead, they struck from the wings.

Of equal concern were their blitzes up and down the line. Kuwait’s match against Uzbekistan showed the damage that Al Elenezi can wreak on the right flanks.

Kuwait tried the same tactic against us but with limited success against an in-form Ray Jonsson who played his heart out. The one time they got a real shot on goal instead of an opportunistic flick by Al Mutwa, Al Azraq scored as Al Elenezi found Yousef Naser who found himself in front of his Philippine defender and headed home a diving shot for the first points.

In a game like football, one mistake can kill you. You could feel the air sucked out of the Mohammed Al Hamad Stadium that was packed by Filipinos who outnumbered the locals.

Someone at the hotel (before we left for the airport) asked why Phil Younghusband was playing alone on top of the 4-5-1 formation. The formation is a defensive oriented one that hopes to stifle the ball in the middle and to create quick scoring chances on the counter. With missing pieces in the starting eleven, we had no choice but to play a little cautious.

But as the match went on, I was wondering why Angel Guirado and a few others were not replaced by fresh legs. Whether because of the heat or the score, the Azkals could have used some energy off the bench. Instead, they came on with hardly any time left and Simon Greatwich picked up a totally unnecessary yellow card.

And we did not adjust to their change of attack with a two-man game on the left flank where they were outfoxing our defenders. The third goal should have not been conceded and that put us in a deeper hole.

I, on the other hand, cannot understand why are people all of a sudden upset about the loss? As I was getting ready to leave Kuwait, I heard from fellow media person Dyan Castillejo that the netizens were on bash mode.

I guess they did not know that we were up against a foe who is what – ranked 50 places higher? And that team once made the World Cup in 1982 and repeatedly goes up against top-notch competition.

Let me make a comparison right here. Malaysia, the current SEA Games and Suzuki Cup champions went up against Arsenal, Liverpool, and Chelsea in succession and got waxed every time out. Yet in their World Cup qualifying match against a re-tooled Singapore, they got beat 5-3. Games like these are not easy.

It would be good for you to know that many Kuwaitis chose not to watch the match and spend their Dinar because they believed that the three full points was a foregone conclusion. We met no one, and we mean no one, who did not predict a rout. Three-nil. Four-nil. Five-nil. Some were even so bold to say 10-nil. Was it hubris and overconfidence? Maybe. Maybe not. Oh, they know the Philippines. They have seen our games.

The level of football intelligence of this country is on another level. During the pre and post-match press conferences, the questions were technical in nature and showed a keen understanding of the game. I came away with the same feeling after watching Liverpool play Malaysia. Never have I so thoroughly enjoyed a press con where everyone was so geeked out by the beautiful game.

We lost but look who had good words for our team.

Mohamad Said, a journalist at Al-Qabas newspaper and an analyst who dissects French Ligue 1 and UEFA Champions League games for the Kuwait Sport Channel said to me, “Your players have talent and skill but the connection between one another is not yet there. You are not able to put together several passes in succession when advancing the ball. But you will learn and get better. I never thought that I’d see more Filipinos watching a football match than Kuwaitis and for that, you have my respect.”

Goran Tufegdzic, Al Azraq’s Serbian coach said, “I am not surprised at how good the Philippines played. I know this team has good players and this team is strong. If they are very serious and keep to their system they will do much better. In the first half, they gave us many problems but we had the experience to adjust our strategy.”

Now it’s our turn to adjust. And how.