2014 Peace Cup @ RMS

I was very excited to watch our very own Philippine Azkals battle it out against the Myanmar White Angels for the Peace Cup last September 6 at the newly-renovated Rizal Memorial Stadium. Good thing they lowered the prices—lower grandstand tickets were just Php 533.60 each.

The new all-weather surface pitch has now the FIFA-standard size. The artificial grass turf looks good too. It was a sizeable crowd with the grandstand & white bleachers section filled up.

RMS, March 2013

RMS, September 2014

I used to watch from the white bleachers section and I must say, I really loved the view from where we were seated on the grandstand. We were there early, but the first game between Chinese Taipei and Palestine went to overtime so the kick-off started at 7:35 pm.

At the eight minute, Myanmar scored a “lucky” shot with the ball hitting the pole then went inside the goal. There were scoring attempts from Bahadoran, P. Younghusband, J. Younghusband, C. Greatwhich, but in vain. It was a very intense game with even the Myanmar coach, thrown out of the game.

At the second half, the crowd went wild as Sato made the equalizer. The Philippines was able to take the lead in the 70^th minute after Phil converted from a penalty kick. Everyone thought that Azkals already have this one, but at the dying minutes of the game, the visiting team was able to score! Imagine the shock and disappointment of everyone at the stadium (Well, except for a handful of Myanmar supporters)

In overtime, Myanmar yet again scored another goal and the Philippines never recovered. Azkals GK, Muller kept on moving out of his territory. There were also errors in passing, throwing away possessions, and not too much pressure in defending. It seems to me that our coach loves to “experiment” as some of the players were not playing in their “natural” position and there were “questionable” choices on who to field in. Still, congratulations for the silver finish and I hope the Azkals will be better this coming Suzuki Cup.