The Philippine national football team, Philippine Azkals succeeded in earning their first three points and secured their first win in the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup by defeating Laos 1-nil on Thursday night at the Hithadhoo Stadium in Maldives.
Watch the full replay of Azkals vs. Laos:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6uSVo5tN6o
The Azkals previously settled in a scoreless draw during the their first encounter with the highest-ranked team, Afghanistan last May 20, 2014. On their second game, the Azkals got two goals from Simone Rota and Patrick Reichelt.
Although the Azkals enjoyed more ball possession compared to the Laotians in the first half, the national team found it difficult to score a goal. Juani Guirado had a chance at around 8th minutes but his header was denied by the crossbar.
The Azkals only scored at around 40th minutes when they pressed their attack, Stephan Schrock’s attempt was cleared by Laos defenders, but the ball landed right in front of Simone Rota who fired the shot and successfully found the net putting the Azkals ahead with 1-nil in the scorecard. Simone Rota’s score is his first international goal for the Philippines.
In the second half, Patrick Reichelt unleashed a header that sent the ball to the lower right corner of the net and got the Azkals ahead with 2 goals against the scoreless Laos national football team.
The Philippines is currently on top of the Group B with 4 points and a +2 goal difference, followed by Turkmenistan with 3 points (+4 GD), Afghanistan has 1 point (0 GD), while Laos is out of the contention for the semis with no point (-6 GD).
The Azkals next game will be on Saturday, May 24, 2014 against Turkmenistan, the game will be aired live on ABS-CBN’s Sports+ Action starting at around 6:30 PM.
