Azkal Fever- When Stray Dogs Devoured the Wolves

I have a question, which is stronger a pack of stray dogs or a pack of wolves?

In the first leg of the AFC Challenge Cup Playoff match between the Philippines and Mongolia, the pack of stray dogs were mightier than the pack of wolves from the steppes. The Azkals (the Philippines) won 2-0 against the Mongolian Blue Wolves.

I was one of those who witnessed the match live at the Pana-ad! I was really standing in the front of the grand stand! Wow, I was so blessed! 

The match was a sellout!

 The Azkals deployed almost the same line-up that played in the Suzuki Cup with the exception of Simon Greatwich, who replaced his older brother, Chris. The Filipinos also has a new coach. Simon McMenemy was replaced by Hans Michael Weiss, a German.

The match started at 7 pm. We were parallel to the Mongolian goal, where 21-year old, Neil Etheridge awaited. Early on the Filipinos controlled and dictated the game. The fans, especially the girls, were screaming and shouting either Phil or James Younghusband's names every time they touched the ball. Upon hearing this, I was rolling my eyeballs. True, the Younghusbands can be cute and they are our football poster boys, but there are players in the Azkal XI that is worth shouting for. I was cheering for all of them, calling them by their first names, as if we are friends in real life. I guess this is where you can decipher which is a real football, don't you think?

 Neil Etheridge. I like calling him as "Baby Goalie" because he is so young. I want to be his big sister.

 The Filipinos continued their onslaught towards their goal, but somehow the Mongolians either parked the bus in front or were simply lucky that the ball swiveled away or was blocked by the post, or was caught by their keeper. There were also moments when either Anton del Rosario and Jason de Jong (not related to the Manchester City/Holland midfielder, Nigel de Jong) had the ball stolen from them, that Mongolia almost scored a goal.The Azkals got frustrated, the crowd got impatient. Then as the first half of the match was about to close, Vice-Captain Emelio "Chieffy" Caligdong struck what was the goal of the match! It was a display of excellent ball control by Chieffy. He got a rebound, dribbled it, then kick the ball in between the Mongolian keeper's legs! It was pandemonium! I like how Chieffy celebrated his goal. He went to the crowd, turned on his back, and signal on what his back jersey's writing, "Caligdong, 13". Now, those Younghusband screamers know that there is someone like Chieffy in the squad. Chieffy, by the way, is one of the most revered Philippine born and raised player in the squad.

 This is the Chieffy goal. Chieffy proved that in football, height does not matter. Take that, Basketball.

With a man down and a goal down, I was thinking the Mongolians might unleashed it full fury in the second half. I was really praying that the Mongolians will not score a goal in Philippine soil, so that we may not have the dilemma of home and away goal rule in case of there is a tie after the two legs. But I guess the once mighty Mongols cower in the fury of the rabid Filipino attacks. The Mongols had almost all of their players scram in front of goal to block every Filipino potential goal. Ian Araneta, Phil Yonghusband's strike partner had a lot of missed opportunities. It would have been nice if Simon Greatwich (or was it Ray Jonsson's?) bicycle kick goal could have found it's way at the back of the net. Once again, the Azkals got frustrated, the crowd went impatient, when out from a James Younghuband's corner, Phil Younghusband scored a goal. The crowd went wild, but I saw that he used his hand, not foot to tuck the ball into the net. And the linesman saw it, too. Phil was given a yellow card.

The game was extended with a 4 minute stoppage time. This is the estimated amount of time used for breaks since football's clock is a running clock. Just before the stoppage time ends, Phil Younghusband scored a legitimate goal to the delight of fans!

The match ended 2-0. Could this 2-0 win be enough for the Philippines to secure a place in the AFC Challenge Cup 2012, and have the right to play against Myanmar, Palestine and Bangladesh? We'll have to wait and see this March 15.