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[av_heading heading=’Azkals-Malaysia friendly scoreless’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
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Wednesday night’s friendly was so tight neither the Philippine Azkals nor the Harimau Malaysia got a good shot on the goal. JOSH ALBELDA / ABS-CBN SPORTS
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MANILA – Philippine Azkals settled for a scoreless draw with Malaysia in their international friendly at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium.
It was the fifth straight time on Wednesday night that a match between the Azkals and the Harimau Malaysia ended in stalemate. The last time the Philippines defeated Malaysia was during the 1991 Southeast Asian Games.
The friendly was so tight neither of the teams got a good shot on the goal. The closer chance to a conversion was Harimau’s Ahmad Bakwan Mazri’s, but his attempt sailed wide.
Azkals head coach Thomas Dooley said he was pleased with the performance of his players — despite the 0-0 score — as they prepare for bigger international matches.
“The team did a pretty good job. They created chances. They had possession most of the time,” Dooley said. “We played better this time compared to the last time we played Malaysia.”
The Azkals used the international friendly with the Harimau to gear up for its first match in the 2017 AFC Asian Cup match against Nepal on Tuesday.
“We will focus on finishing in the next couple of days. Expecting Nepal to be a similar game. We need to score goals,” Dooley said. “This match against Malaysia is a good preparation for next week.”
Aside from Azkals and Nepal, other members of Group F are Yemen and Tajikistan.
The AFC Asian Cup qualification round follows a “home-and-away” format with the top two teams advancing to the tournament proper./PN
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