MANILA – The Philippine men’s football team Azkals and the Philippine U-22 Azkals suffered defeats in their international matches in China and Singapore on Friday evening.
The Azkals continued their losing run to powerhouse China after suffering a 0-2 defeat during their International Friendly Match over at the Tianhe Stadium in Guangzhou, China.
The Chinese converted a goal in each half as the Azkals struggled all game long and even have to endure the ejection of veteran Daisuke Sato after being slapped with a red card in the second half.
This was the third time in the last two years that the Philippines and China have faced each other. The Chinese squad demolished the Azkals, 8-1, in a friendly in 2017, before beating the Filipinos again, 3-0, in the AFC Asian Cup.
Meanwhile, the Philippine U-22 Azkals were also unsuccessful in their opening match at the 2019 Merlion Cup following a 0-3 loss to Singapore at the Jalan Besar Stadium in Singapore.
Irfan Fandi make up for his early missed as he surged the Singaporeans ahead with a conversion over Azkals’ Michael Asong. Infan also converted early in the second half to make it 2-0.
With the Philippines struggling to find the back of the net, the Singaporeans pulled away for good late in the game with Ikhsan Fandi converting from close range from a pass by Zikos Chua.
The result relegates the U-22 Azkals to the third-place clash against Indonesia, which lost 1-2 to Thailand in the day’s earlier fixture./PN
