Aussie U-23 team nips Azkals, 1-0
Call it a good loss. Playing without Phil and James Younghusband, the Philippine Azkals weren't expected to put up much of a challenge against the Australia U-23 side in their friendly last night in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The Aussies won the match, 1-0, after dominating the first half of play, but the Azkals didn't embarrass themselves and put up a good fight in the second half, holding steady on the defensive end while also creating scoring opportunities on the other side.
The Olyroos, as the Australian U-23 team is known, went ahead in the 11th minute courtesy of a header by Jason Hoffman following a cross from Aziz Behich. Azkals defender Luis Guirado actually tried to clear the cross via a header, but his effort was weak and the ball bounced straight to an unmarked Hoffman. Azkals keeper Neil Etheridge appeared to hesitate, as if waiting for an offside call since Aussie Oliver Bozanic was lurking behind him beside the post. But the assistant referee kept his flag down, and Hoffman's goal stood.
The Aussies displayed offensive fluidity for the rest of the half, with numerous short, crisp passes that put the pressure on the Azkals' side of the pitch. But interim team captain Ray Jonsson led a resolute Azkals defense that kept the lead from ballooning. On the other side of the pitch, Ian Araneta and Denis Wolf had trouble creating opportunities against a solid Aussie back four. Wolf displayed good form in several counterattacking opportunities, but often the help just wasn't there. All told, the Olyroos controlled possession for 68% of the first half and had twice as many attempts as the Azkals. It said a lot about the Azkals' defense that the score remained 1-0 at halftime.
At the start of the second half, coach Michael Weiss pulled out Araneta in favor of Stallion Giligan's mainstay Ruben Doctora. The Azkals opened up on offense a little more, sending more men forward in an effort to nail the equalizer. Weiss then sent in Joshua Beloya for Misagh Bahadoran and Lexton Moy for Marwin Angeles in an effort to shake things up.
The Olyroos had a good chance to increase their lead with a free kick following a yellow card on Jason De Jong. But Etheridge came up with a gutsy save to keep the score at 1-nil. Later on, Wolf nearly equalized for the Azkals after gathering Jason Sabio's long throw-in and outmaneuvering two defenders to get within close range of the Aussie goal. But his effort lacked punch and was easily thwarted by Aussie keeper Matt Ryan. Beloya also had a chance two minutes before the final whistle, but his shot sailed over the crossbar.
The Olyroos are in the midst of participating in a qualifying stage for the London 2012 Olympics. In one of their group matches, they lost 2-nil to the same Uzbekistan U-23 side that trounced the Azkals, 3-nil, at the start of the latter's Middle East tour.
The Younghusband brothers flew home Wednesday night, with the blessing of team management, to honor what they called some previous commitments. Hours before the match, Phil tweeted:
"Good luck to the team tonight against Australia. Wish we could play but we have commitments in the Philippines that couldn't be rescheduled. Please understand that we are not only players for our country and our club but also fathers to our sister, boss to our employees. We will always be committed to country, club, business and most especially family. Thanks for the support everyone."
Last Wednesday, shortly after arriving home, James tweeted: "Came home to Manila to settle some commitments we have which could not be moved."
It wasn't clear exactly what these commitments were, although the brothers' club team, Loyola Meralco Sparks, has a UFL game on Sunday at 6:00PM.
Judging from the final score, though, it looked like the Younghusbands were hardly missed. In fact, their absence forced Weiss to finally use the other players more. The German coach was widely criticized for using only four substitutes in the Azkals' 3-1 win over Qatar's Al Ahli club, which in contrast used 30 players. Weiss's four subs included Moy, who was sent in with only 90 seconds left in injury time. Although Weiss used only three substitutes against the Aussies, at least this time they were sent into the game much earlier and were able to make an impact.
Next up for the Azkals will be a friendly against Southeast Asian neighbor Malaysia on February 29 at the Rizal Stadium.
E-mail: sid_ventura@yahoo.com. Twitter: @Sid_Ventura.
