The Philippine Azkals failed to score a goal and ended the international friendly match against Cambodia in a scoreless draw. The Cambodia National Football Team is not as strong compared to the other teams in Southeast Asia but they have already prepared so well in the game.
The Cambodians even fielded a goalkeeper who has no international experience in FIFA-sanctioned game but his defense was superb enough to denied the Philippine Azkals goal.
The Philippine Azkals controlled most of the tempo of the game and the ball possession but they failed to capitalized on those brilliant possession. In the first half of the match they got clear chances of the goal but failed to capitalized on every attempt.
Azkals’ coach Hans Michael Weiss have chosen his first 11 as Neil Etheridge, Jeffrey Christiaens, Jason Sabio, Rob Gier, Carli de Murga, James Younghusband, Jerry Lucena, Marwin Angeles, Chieffy Caligdong, Phil Younghusband and Paul Mulders.
Substittues of the game were De Jong for Gier and Reichelt for Lucena before the start of the second half. Denis Wolf also substituted Phil Younghusband at around 65th minutes. Andres Gonzales made an appearance at 68th as substitute for James Younghusband while Misagh substituted Chieffy Caligdong on 75th and OJ Porteria saw action for Paul Mulders at 81 minutes.
During the first half of action star striker Phil Younghusband had several chances especially at around 33rd minutes during a free kick but failed to score. Skipper Chieffy Caligdong had a clear chance at around 45th minute but his shot went directly to the Cambodian keeper.
The second half of action the Philippine Azkals still controlled the tempo of the game but one fatal mistake made by goalkeeper Neil Etheridge at around 57th minutes when the ball slides from his foot and was nearly capitalized by Cambodian attacker but he failed to score and Neil grabbed and secured the ball.
The Philippine Azkals have a clear chance at around 86th minute when Misagh Bahadoran made a brilliant p(–foul word(s) removed–) to Patrick Reichelt, who kicked the ball on its way to the goal, but the problem goes directly to the left post for a rare chance of scoring.
Although the game ended in a scoreless draw the Philippines is still happy with their performance and kept their focus on their upcoming match-up against Singapore this coming September 7, 2012.
Highlights of the game between Philippine Azkals and Cambodia:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXC-QCeWjac
