My post-Suzuki Cup Azkals thoughts

My post-Suzuki Cup Azkals thoughts

by rick olivares pic from aff suzuki cup site

There should be no shame when you bow out of the Group of Death. That means on any given night, one team can knock off the other. Nevertheless, there’ll be much soul searching for the Philippine Men’s Football National Team after it crashed out of the group stages of the Suzuki Cup following a 1-nil loss to Thailand last Friday, November 25 at the Philippine Arena.

This is the first time in the last four stagings where the Azkals will not advance beyond the group stages. The last time the PMNT didn’t make it out of the group stages was in 2007 (the team didn’t qualify at all for the 2008 edition).

The PMNT will rue not taking advantage of Singapore going down to 10 men and who played that way for close to an hour. Plus, it has to hurt that Thailand went to their bench and they still matched up pretty well versus the Philippines that had its first team on the pitch. The Thais left only defender Koravit Namwiset as the only player who suited up in the War Elephants’ second match of the group stage (against Singapore).

Make no mistake, there is quality up and down the roster and this is one of the better sides we have ever produced.

There was a total of 28 goals scored in both group stages (in the Philippines and in Myanmar) and only three were scored from outside the box, the Philippines had one of them coming from a brilliant free kick by Phil Younghusband.

The two goals scored by the PMNT is their lowest since the football renaissance in the country. The Azkals scored three goals in the group stages in 2010, four in the group stages of 2012, and nine in 2014.

While the goal scoring and attack is better, the defense has been somewhat leaky. In Vietnam in 2010, only one goal was conceded in the group stage. There were two goals against the Azkals in 2012, and four allowed in 2014. While the Philippines conceded only three, the only scored two so there’s a negative in the differential.

Thailand tallied six goals with one coming from just a foot outside the box. All their others goals came from runs inside the box.

Indonesia, the other semi-finalist, also scored six goals with four coming from crosses.  

Let’s take a look at some offensive statistics in terms of attempts.

Country	Attempts	On Target	Off Target	Corners
Thailand	27	11	16	22
Indonesia	37	21	16	11
Philippines	37	21	16	21
Singapore	22	8	22	8

Here is another table with regards to the dangerous intent.

Dangerous Attacks	Singapore	Indonesia	Thailand
Philippines	30%-22%	27%-31%	27%-22%

Looking at that data, the Philippines rains a lot of shots at opposing goals. However, they tend to be very wasteful with their chances. The shot attempts also infer the industry of the players but the finishing needs to be better.

In my opinion, on the attack, they need to send more people inside the box during their attacks but to also leave some players positioned outside the box in case they need to move the ball back or to guard against the counter.

And there is the importance of the first goal.

Since Thomas Dooley took over in 2014, when the Philippines scores first, they stand a better chance of winning the match. Since the came under Dooley, the Philippines is 5-2 in Suzuki Cup, AFC Challenge Cup, and World Cup Qualifying play when they score first.

In this 2016 Suzuki Cup, Thailand and Indonesia have had better finishing kicks. They win the war of attrition by playing tough in the first half. They try to score goals and then finish you off in the second half. That is also a testament to not only their quality but also their mental fortitude as well as fitness and conditioning.  

Looking forward, how do they proceed? I think defensively, we’re fine. We’ve got very good midfielders. The Younghusband brothers are still terrific and Stephan Schrock is always a delight to watch.

Believe it or not, I still think there’s that need for that tall, creative striker who can attract a whole lot of attention up front. I like Misagh Bahadoran who has always been an impact player. I also like the industry of Hikaru Minegeshi. But we need that tall fella up front.

If we can’t find someone, why can’t we naturalize? Whatever happened to the bid to naturalize Izzo El Habbib, the former Kaya and Global stud forward? Wasn’t he a candidate? The man can sure score goals.

Singapore found that stud up front with the now retired Aleksandar Duric. Vietnam has five naturalized African players playing the V.League. One of them is Nigerian striker Samson Olaleye, who smashed Le Cong Vinh V.League scoring record in 2015. He is only 28 years old and the question now is, when will he suit up for the Golden Stars as the Vietnam national team is called? Indonesia had Uruguayan Cristian Gonzales several years ago in uniform.

Nevertheless, that is for our football authorities to figure out.

Thanks for the campaign, PMNT. Let’s get back on track!