Philippines team - the giant Goliath

Veteran strategist Eriksson attended the AFF Cup 2018 with “three no’s”, as he did not have enough time to select the Philippines team list, did not personally prepare the lineup for the matches and of course did not know anything about the opponents in the region. He only learned about the opponents through the match tapes brought by his assistants and the 90 minutes of the match was when the Swedish man took action.

Kick and patch

The Philippines national team has quite a few naturalized players. The brightest star of the Philippines is the naturalized central midfielder John-Patrick Strauß (36), born in Germany, 22 years old, playing for the German second-tier football club Erzgebirge Aue. This player and M.Otto (8) play as a central midfielder pair in the 4-4-2 formation favored by coach Sven-Goran Eriksson.

The only change in command is that Eriksson may push 24-year-old left-back Daisuke Sato (11), who plays for Sepsi OSK Sfantu Gheorghe in the Romanian national championship, into midfield.

Striker Phil Younghusband (10) has been injured and is likely to miss the match against Vietnam in the 2018 AFF Cup Semi-Final. Photo: AFF

Because the AFF Cup is not on FIFA's official schedule, even though the Philippines team just got a new famous coach, Mr. Sven-Goran Eriksson, goalkeeper Etheridge could only convince Cardiff FC to let him participate in exactly one match against Singapore.

The most regrettable thing is that “The Azkals” do not have the service of 30-year-old striker Patino due to injury. He is a player of Spanish origin, who has played in national championships such as Spain (Cordoba Club, Xerez), China (Henan Jianye Club) and Thailand (Buriram United Club).

In the 2018 Thai League season, Patino played 16 matches in all competitions for Buriram and scored 7 goals. The Thai press even rated Patino as superior to the number 1 striker in Thailand, Teerasil Dangda.

Looking at the Philippines and Thailand teams facing each other at Panaad Stadium, they are no different from European teams, most of them are over 1.80m tall. “The Azkals” played better and better, showing a methodical style of play, strong in physical strength, physique and good attacking moves.

Although the result was a 1-1 draw, it has been a long time since the Thai team experienced such a disadvantaged match at the AFF Cup. No one dared to think that coach Milovan Rajevac's team only had the ball 40% of the time.

In the last match against host Indonesia, knowing that host Thailand had scored an early goal against Singapore, the Philippines did not need to play too explosively but had more shots on goal than their opponents (9 compared to 6). The Philippines players played low but still sent long passes to threaten goalkeeper A.Ardhaysa's goal.

David and the giant goliath

By the final group stage match against Indonesia, Coach Eriksson had begun to make changes to his personnel arrangements. Still using the 4-4-2 formation, but he did not hide the fact that he used the striker pair Phil Younghusband (10), Patrick Reichelt (29).

The “Three Nos” came to the AFF Cup 2018 but coach Eriksson brought the Philippines to the semi-finals. Photo: AFF

But the right midfielder Stephan Schorock (17) was moved to play on the left wing with Daisuke Sato (11), both of whom are tall and fast players. Player J.Bedic (26) was put on the field and played on the right, constantly exchanging positions with Patrick Reichelt (29) to cause difficulties for the host Indonesia.

Both coach Park Hang-seo and Eriksson have things in common, they are loyal to the 3-4-3 and 4-4-2 formations but in each specific situation they will arrange players and adjust their playing style accordingly.

In a short time in charge, Mr. Eriksson has not been able to immediately raise the level of the Philippines team, as evidenced by the fact that the tiny team Timor-Leste was still able to score 2 goals against "The Azkals", but clearly with their superior physique and physical strength, they are still a difficult team to play against.

The semi-final match between Vietnam and the Philippines will be a re-enactment of the David vs Goliath battle. Players like Quang Hai and Van Quyet will have to face off against the tall central defenders C.de Murga (3) and Alvaro Silva (33) - who used to play for Hanoi FC.