The Philippine Online Chronicles

Kuwait has beat the Philippines 2-1 to advance to the third round of the 2014 World Cup Qualifiers Asian leg but the Azkals' loss at the home front gave the team more lessons to learn from. Once a minnow in the region, the Azkals battled football powerhouse Kuwait head-on and made an impression on the opponent.

In the first half, the Philippine side succeeded in the stopping Kuwait's aggressive offense but also fell short in delivering an early goal advantage. Strikers Phil Younghusband and Angel Guirado both worked hard on their scoring chances but were either foiled by Kuwait's cohesive defense or by goal keeper Nawaf Al Khaldi's saves.

Kuwait's almost scored a goal in the 33^rd minute but the shot directly hit the post.

Just at the nick of the first half, Philippines scored its lone goal from Stephan Schrock who swiftly shot the ball straight to the net, past stunned Kuwaiti keeper in the 47^th minute. When Schrock scored the goal, Rizal Stadium erupted to a thunderous roar as if we won the match.

At the start of the second half, the Azkals stepped up their offense with successive attempts by Phil Younghusband and Guirado. Chieffy Caligdong also tried to slip pass the Kuwaiti defense

but was stopped by Fahid Al Ebrahim who was sent off due to a hard tackle against Caligdong.

But the Philippines' defensive side faltered, conceding two goals in the second half. Even with a 10-man team, Kuwait managed to score an equalizer in the 58^th minute courtesy of Yousef Naser Sulaiman.

Strikers Ian Araneta and Misagh Bahadoran were brought into the pitch by Coach Weiss in the last 15 minutes of the match in the hope of edging out Kuwait.

But Kuwait's counter-attacking in the final minutes gave them a clear chance to advance. Al-Azraq sealed their solid victory with a second goal in the 85^th by Walied Ali Jumah. Azkals keeper Neil Etheridge and Ray Jonsson were too late to save Jumah's goal.

The mighty Al-Azraq has beat the Azkals 5-1 on aggregate.

This was the first time that Philippines lost on home soil since their match against Laos in October 2008. Kuwait, on the other hand, will advance to the third round together with 14 other winners of Round 2 and seeded teams Japan, Australia, South Korea, Bahrain and North Korea.

Hard lessons learned

The Azkals will learn many lessons from this campaign, said Coach Weiss who had been steering the Philippine team for the past six months since the Suzuki Cup.

“This game showed how bitter and hard football can be. A team which had been fighting so bravely can be punished so severely. That is a hard lesson to be learned.” Weiss added, “this is learning process for the team. They can only learn from these experiences. If you'll think, one year ago, we would have never played Kuwait, it would have been a different score.

"I think the team can take this defeat. They have to take it fairly and also acknowledge that we went up against a tough opponent," Weiss said."

“Weiss added, “They might be sad now, they might be down but have done a tough job. It was visible that they gave their best. It was not enough to deliver, but it will be very helpful in the future.”

The German coach said the Philippines' chance of qualifying in the World Cup will be more realistic in the next four years. “We need the support, we need more pitches. We have a good chance to be developed.”

Kuwait, confident of its chances to advance in the World Cup, praised the Philippines' effort. “You have very good players, especially if you play against a team like Kuwait with that skills and acceleration. We hope to see you in the best 10 teams in Asia in the years ahead,” according to Al-Azraq assistant coach.

What's next for the Azkals

With the World Cup campaign now over, the Azkals will take their much needed rest before preparing for upcoming campaigns. “We have used the last drop of gas in the tank. We need mental and physical break,” Weiss said

The Azkals' coach said the team will start preparation for the Under-23 by late August, the Long Teng Cup in Taiwan in September to October and another four weeks intensive preparation for the Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) from October to November.

Next year, the Azkals will focus on the AFC Challenge Cup where the Philippines is one of the top eight contenders.

Photos by Edna Villanueva. Used with permission. Some rights reserved.