THE Philippines men’s football team isn’t losing hope but recognizes the pressing need to level up its game to save its semifinal quest in the Asean Championship-Mitsubishi Electric Cup.
After an opening 1-1 stalemate with Myanmar at home, the Pinoy booters got the same disappointing outcome and scoreline against Laos in Sunday’s away match in Vientiane and stuck at No. 3 in Group B with two points.
This put them in do-or-die matches against unbeaten pacesetter Vietnam (six points on two victories) on Wednesday at the Rizal Memorial Stadium and second-running Indonesia (four points on 1-1-1 win-draw-loss card) on the road on Saturday while hoping for other results to go in their favor to remain in the race for the two semis tickets.
“In general, it was not a good game for us (against Laos). We made one step backwards and now we have to play against Vietnam at home and we have to raise our level if we want to qualify,” said coach Albert Capellas.
The Vietnamese go into the game against the Philippines on a high after outclassing erstwhile leader Indonesia, 1-0, Sunday in Viet Tri City, following their 4-1 trashing of Laos last Dec. 9.
“Hope springs eternal for our men’s team, but they need that extra push come the 18th,” said Philippine Football Federation President John Gutierrez.
“There are no sacred cows in our group and every game, yes, even against the group favorite Vietnam, is expected to be 50-50.” — Olmin Leyba