The Philippine Football team Azkals is in a somber spirit as they expressed their disappointments and regrets in their lost against the Mongolian football team during their game in Ulan Bator, Mongolia last Tuesday. Despite the loss, Azkals is still qualified to join the Challenge Cup in Myanmar because of their aggregate score from their previous game where Azkals scored 2-0 leading against Mongolia. Accumulating their scores from the previous game here in Bacolod City, Azkals has 3 while Mongolia has 2.
Azkals star players felt disappointed knowing that they had let their adoring fans and nations down. Most football experts blamed the minus 12 degree Celsius weather which bring the tolls against the Filipino booters. Many game enthusiast quickly noticed that the team are quite sluggish in today’s game compared to their winning game in Bacolod. They noticed that it took quite some time for the booters to get used with the weather during the game as they are seen struggling in the first half of the game but later improved on the second half. Still, it is too late since it had already cost a lot when the opponent scored 2-1 beating the Azkals.
Rudy del Rosario of the Kaya Football Club said the Azkals were able to settle into their game in the second half.
‚ÄúWe actually finally settled in the second half, we were attacking more, we had more chances in goals. Some decisions they made weren’t the best decision but still, we got the results we wanted,‚Äù said Del Rosario. He further noticed that the biggest threat in the game are not the opponents but the weather itself as it had beaten down the Azkals and suppressed their skills.
Headed by their star player Phil Younghusband, the Azkals had repeatedly apologized to the Filipino fans via Twitter. Howeverm President Benigno Aquino showered the team with congratulations to cheer up the team. He ignored the lost game but rather focused his praise on the advancing of the team to the group stage of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Challenge Cup.
“The Filipino people stand united in congratulating our Philippine Azkals on their 3-2 aggregate win against the Mongolian football team during their prequalifying playoff match for the group stage of the Asian Football Confederation Challenge Cup,” the President said in a statement.
