by Cheska D. Geli
A MORE aggressive Philippine national football team will take on Sri Lanka in the second leg of the Fifa World Cup qualifiers today at the Rizal Stadium in Manila.
The Azkals will try to make use of the familiarity of the playing field and the support of a partisan crown to pull off a better finish. The previous match resulted to a 1-1 draw.
Despite the unwanted turnout of their last match, Ian Araneta said the team will remain consistent with their game plan of pressing their rivals early and concentrating more on the attack.
The team will work on its offensive strategy in trying to score the first goal of the match before an expected crowd of 15,000 supportive Filipinos.
"Mas maaga maka score mas maganda," said Araneta, whose shot was deflected by the Sri Lankan keeper last Wednesday.
Before their final training yesterday, the Azkals viewed the tape of their match to review their errors so they could make the necessary adjustments.
"Pinag-aralan namin paano kami nag defend sa opponent tapos yung mga individual faults namin. Talagang mas pinaghandaan namin yung game," said Araneta.
The striker also confirmed that team mate Phil Younghusband and Angel Guirado will be playing today despite being badly injured from the highly physical game.
Araneta also assured supporters that they will put up a good fight to finish the second leg in the hopes of facing Kuwait in the second round of the World Cup Qualifiers.
To advance to the next round, the Azkals need to win or hold Sri Lanka to a scoreless draw. If today’s game ends in a 1-1 draw, the match will go to an extention. Sri Lanka will advance if it wins today’s match or draws the Azkals, 2-2.
"Mag expect sila ng magandang laban kasi hindi kami papayag na matalo," Araneta said.
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on July 03, 2011.
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