Philippines national team and the price to pay
(Baonghean.vn) - Until now, the Philippine Football Federation is still proud of being in the situation of "the teacher arrived late, the team was decided late" but their team still entered the semi-finals. They even have a chance to have their first win when they are present in the semi-finals of the AFF Cup for the 4th time. But Cong Phuong and the Vietnamese players will let their opponents know the price to pay for hasty and risky preparation.
It was not until the morning of November 13, 2018, the opening match day against Singapore, that coach Sven-Goran Eriksson decided to finalize his squad. The Swedish coach had only officially signed a contract to lead the Philippine team 12 days earlier. Most of the work on the roster and training, Mr. Eriksson inherited from Mr. Thomas Dooley, the head coach of the Philippine team a few months earlier.
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| Goalkeeper Falkesgaard participated in the AFF Cup for the first time and in his debut match against Timor-Leste, he made a mistake and conceded two goals after the Philippines led 3-0. Photo AFF |
Build a house from the roof
Under the reign of coach Thomas Dooley, the Philippines national team has also been ranked No. 1 in Southeast Asia on the FIFA rankings many times. The former captain of the US national team from 1992 to 1999 began leading the Philippines national team in 2014. Under his tenure, he has led the team to many achievements such as reaching the semi-finals of the AFF Suzuki Cup 2014, and qualifying for the Asian Cup 2019 for the first time (with an unbeaten record in 6 matches of the third qualifying round). However, the Philippine Football Federation is still determined to "build a house from the roof" by spending money to invite the famous coach Eriksson right before the opening day of the AFF Cup 2018.
With foreign clubs refusing to release players to play in the AFF Cup 2018, Thailand chose an alternative from the beginning, but the Philippine Football Federation advised coach Sven-Goran Eriksson to play in a "go as far as you can" style. When Thailand determined that it would not have the number 1 goal scorer Dangda, apart from strikerAdisak KraisornCoach Milovan Rajevac has considered using young players.Supachai Jaidedreplace and he basically succeeded.
Even goalkeeper Neil Etheridge only started the first match against Singapore, then sat on the bench against Timor-Leste and immediately returned to Cardiff City. Goalkeeper Falkesgaard participated in the AFF Cup for the first time, in his debut match against Timor-Leste, he made a mistake and conceded 2 goals after the Philippines led 3-0. At least until now, over-reliance on Neil Etheridge has made the Philippines pay the price with 2 goals, if not for the end of the match, who knows what would have happened.
Lost troops before the semi-finals
Of the four Filipino players recalled by the club, including goalkeeper Neil Etheridge, Daisuke Sato, Patrick Strauss and Stephan Palla, two play in the same position. Left-back Palla, who was just recalled by Thai League club Buriram United, was originally a backup option for Daisuke Sato. Thus, coach Sven-Goran Eriksson has only two names left: Martin Steuble or Amani Aguinaldo to replace him on the left wing.
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| The Philippine strikers have very good height. Photo: AFF |
Left-back Steuble, 29, who plays for the most famous club in the Philippines, Ceres-Negros, has scored 3 goals for the Philippines national team and 8 goals for Ceres-Negros, which is not a bad name. But Amani Aguinaldo, 23, has just been called up to the Philippine national team for the first time. Aguinaldo himself is a central defender, but was used on both wings by former coach of the Philippines, Mr. Thomas Dooley. This player has recently been injured and has not really regained 100% form. Coach Park Hang-seo will certainly update this information and the right wing will be the priority attack direction of the Vietnamese team.
To fill the central midfield position left by Strauss, coach Eriksson only has 32-year-old veteran James Younghusband to replace. James was previously an irreplaceable player for the Philippines, but at this year's AFF Cup he gave way to young talent Strauss (22 years old). Unfortunately, Strauss had to return to FC Erzgebirge Aue in the Bundesliga 2 in Germany. Therefore, James plays with Manny Ott in the central midfield position but is more defensive, because he has good fighting ability to push midfielder Manny Ott to the playmaker position left by Strauss.
The midfield will have Iain Ramsay and Stephan Schrock on the wings. In the physical style of play, central midfielder James Younghusband is the most worrying link. If the Vietnamese team uses young, strong midfielders like Duc Huy and Hung Dung to play in the middle, the Philippines team will have difficulties.
The Philippine Football Federation and the country's press confirmed right after the group stage that five players, including Luke Woodland (injured), Neil Etheridge, Daisuke Sato, Patrick Strauss and Stephan Palla (recalled by the club), had left the Philippine team. Therefore, coach Sven Goran Eriksson now has only 18 players. If they lose to the Vietnamese team because there are too few replacements on the bench, it will be the price to pay for their calculations that go against the trend.
