Azkals – Malaysia Postgame Thoughts: the good kind of goalless draw

This game mattered for reasons beyond the score. Yes it's true that the Football gods seem to dislike this fixture, giving it goose eggs for the third time in a row. But there's so much more to Sunday night's game that deserves discussion.

Again Dooley blooded a new young player, this time Jovin Bedic from Kaya. Again he tinkered successfully with the lineup, getting very creative by installing Jerry Lucena at centerback. Everyone thought that Amani Aguinaldo might get a first start on Sunday, but Thomas Dooley apparently decided to use the veteran Fil-Dane there instead. It worked out well, and it shows that Lucena is a viable insurance option for us should either Rob Gier or Juani Guirado get injured (knock on wood) in Maldives.

The game also laid bare where this team is in terms of how it can manage without several key cogs in the machine. Lucena and Del Rosario did fine in the back, but going forward, we missed Phil Younghusband's ruthlessness in front of goal.

Martin Steuble and Daisuke Sato continued to cement their places with the team with solid outings. Patrick Reichelt also looked good, abusing Bunyamin Omar quite comprehensively in the left flank and almost scoring on an acrobatic overhead kick.

The team seemed to take a different tactical approach in the first half, with plenty of longish diagonal balls. Perhaps Dooley wanted to shake things up and throw a surprise at Malaysia. Or maybe this was all the Malaysians were giving us.

ALSO READ: Barca fans pay tribute to Tito Vilanova.

Harimau Malaya coach Ong Kim Swee told the Malaysian media beforehand that he would not employ an all-out attack like he did in the March 1 friendly. He wasn't kidding. His defense and midfield was densely packed for much of the game. After the match he told me it was a good result. I guess the away team coach is always happy with a draw in a hostile venue.

The match was a solid barometer for the squad as we move towards the Challenge Cup. No matter what the score turned out to be, we needed this match and we seemed to learn a lot from it.

How about that keeper! Patrick Deyto wins my MOTM award for his heads-up display in Cebu. The kid has everything. Size? Check. Premier-League-level kicking? Check (even with his weaker left foot.) Superb judgment coming out of the box? Major big-ass check. Bravery in dealing with crosses and balls in his area? Check. Outfield-player-level ball-handling with his feet? Check.

But the highlight of the evening was his blanking of Safee Sali's penalty. He read it the way his mom must have read Dr. Seuss books to him when he was a kid, and ushered the ball to safety.

“I told Ed Sacapano that this was for him” he told me after the match. If you'll recall Sacapano, in the Azkals last match in Cebu, swatted away another unjustly-awarded penalty in the Philippines' 1-0 win over Singapore on this ground in November of 2012. It seems that the ghost of Lapu-lapu stations himself at our goal frame whenever a opposing team lines up a penalty kick in Abellana Field.

If I'm a Malaysian club team in either of their top two tiers and I'm watching this game, I'm thinking of giving Deyto's agent a ring. He is now truly an international-caliber keeper, and a credit to the UAAP, UFL, and De La Salle.

ALSO READ: Obama: reported comments by Clips owner are "racist."

Cebu has become a special place for the team. Everything about the venue (with the possible exception of the rather firm ground) was great. The fans filled up almost all of the seats, and the Kaholeros in the new temporary stands made a whole lot of noise from start to finish. Face paint was everywhere, and they also brought along huge drums carved out of PVC containers.

For the second straight time the Azkals have their final international friendly before a major tournament in the Queen City. It should become a tradition. Cebu just has a way of doing things right.

And here's even more good news. I'm told that the University of San Carlos is putting the finishing touches on a brand-new trackless, football-specific stadium. It will have a capacity of around 8,000 I am told, and will have a natural-grass surface. I also heard that the facility will have its own water reservoir to help keep the grass lush.

I hope that future Cebu Azkals games will be held there. That would make for a very intimate setting that could create a very tough atmosphere for visiting sides.

The UFL can take a lot of credit for this performance. All but two of the starters for the national team came from the UFL, and this is reflective of how the standard in that league has grown leaps and bounds. We drew against one of ASEAN's top sides despite not having our best striker available and with our two best centerbacks unable to make the trip. That says a lot about the depth of this team.

The intensity of the play in the UFL has raised the fitness and technical standard of our players, and no, it's not all due to the influx of foreign-based Filipinos and foreign players. Green Archers United Globe and Pachanga PLDT Home Fibr rely heavily on homegrown players and they are doing just fine in the middle of the table. That can only mean that all players, including the ones born and bred here, are having their games raised in the heat of UFL battle.

Dooley has some tough decisions coming up. Does he trust in youth or stay with experience? How many of the EuroAzkals does he bring along? Is it fair to take so many and leave the boys who have worked so hard in these past friendlies behind?

For sure selecting Stephan Schrock is a no-brainer. But do we bring both Muller and Etheridge, or just one of them? How about Dennis Cagara? And Javi Patino?

For every European-based player we add to the roster, there will be a hard-working UFL-based player who's been part of the preparation, who will stay home.

It will be very interesting to see how this plays out. But with so many fine players to choose from, it certainly is a nice problem for the coach to have.

Follow Bob on Twitter @PassionateFanPH.