Opening game vital for us, says Azkals’ Dooley Philippines coach Thomas Dooley has labelled the opening Group A match of the AFF Suzuki Cup against qualifiers Laos on Saturday as “the most important of the tournament” for the two-time semi-finalists. The match-up at Hanoi’s My Dinh Stadium will be their first meeting in the group stage but the Philippines, who reached the last four in 2010 and 2012, have never beaten Laos in three AFF Suzuki Cup qualifying round encounters and were pushed all the way by them at the AFC Challenge Cup in May before winning 2-0. “Tomorrow’s (Saturday’s) game is the most important one for this tournament. It is the first game and if you lose the game, it will be very difficult against Indonesia and Vietnam to get the points to go to the next round,” said Dooley, a former captain of the United States who took over the reins of the Azkals from Michael Weiss. “Our focus is 100 per cent on the game tomorrow; I do not want to spend one minute thinking about the other games.” The Azkals have fond memories of the My Dinh Stadium as it was the venue for their 2-0 win over reigning champions Vietnam in the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup, widely regarded as a watershed moment for football in the Philippines. “The (senior) players have been talking about it (2010),” said Dooley. “The players are very anxious about the tournament and cannot wait to play this tournament because they came so close (in 2010 and 2012). “They are excited about it. The have to live with the pressure they give themselves and turn it into success.” Dooley will be hoping that Phil Younghusband can add to his 40 international goals, a milestone reached in last week’s 3-0 win over Cambodia, and Mark Hartmann can find the form that saw him hit four goals against Papua New Guinea in October. Laos coach David Booth, meanwhile, believes his young team has the ability to cause their group opponents plenty of problems. “We came together for the Asian Games (in September) and we had good experience there against South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia and we have been together since,” said the hugely experienced coach. “We came through the qualifying stages so we want to justify our spot in the competition. I think the other three teams will be looking at the game against Laos as probably the easiest game for each of them. “We want to make it as difficult as possible for all of them. They are a young team and they can play well on their day. If they are underestimated, they can hurt somebody.” And Laos have the firepower to worry the Philippines. Thailand-based Soukaphone Vongchiengkham, a striker with a penchant for the spectacular, scored four goals in the qualifying tournament including a well-taken hat-trick in the 4-2 victory over Bahrain. Khampheng Sayavutthi, who grabbed three goals in the qualifiers, also has a fondness for the sensational as witnessed by his acrobatic overhead bicycle kick for Laos’ opening goal against Turkmenistan in the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup.
Posted on: Fri, 21 Nov 2014 12:42:11 +0000
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