MANILA – The national men’s football team got a warm up ahead of its match against Thailand tonight. It crushed Timor Leste, 7-0, in the AFF Suzuki Cup 2020 over the weekend at the Singapore National Stadium.
Martin Steuble, Bienvenido Marañon, Amin Nazari, Jesper Nyholm, Patrick Reichelt, Angel Guirado, and Kevin Ingreso scored a goal each. The Azkals bounced back from a 2-1 defeat to Singapore to improve its record to 1-1.
The Azkals’ lopsided victory over Timor Leste was the national football team’s largest win-margin in the AFF Suzuki Cup since its 8-0 manhandling of Cambodia eight years ago.
The Azkals were fiery in the opening half with Steuble beginning the scoring with a 21st minute conversion. It was followed by Nazari’s low attempt 10 minutes later to make it a 2-0 count.
Guirado then knocked down his 13th international goal for the Azkals with a header that bounced past the goal line in the 35th while Reichelt converted the fourth goal of the contest in the 39th.
Nyholm made it a memorable debut for him for the national men’s football team with a header off a set piece before naturalized player Marañon got his first goal for the Azkals just before the break.
With a lopsided score after the first 45 minutes, the Azkals went with its reserve players in the second half and only Ingreso was able to penetrate the defense of Timor Leste for the Philippines’ seventh goal.
“I set the players three targets referring to the mental side,” said Azkals head coach Stewart Hall. “First one was to win the game because we need three points desperately. Second one, score goals because we need goal difference because it may come down to goal difference [for qualification] so we need goals.”
“The third one, get in front early because I want to make substitutions. I want to use 16 players. Those were the three objectives and we did it,” added the foreigner coach.
Hall is hoping to carry the momentum of their lopsided win against Timor Leste when they tangle with Southeast Asia powerhouse Thailand on Tuesday night at the National Stadium./PN
