The Philippine Azkals were a shadow of their reputation and fell to the Kanto Gakuin University football team, 4-0, yesterday in the first of their friendly duel in Gotemba City, Japan.
It was not the kind of result expected from the team but officials said that can be explained by the Azkals’ lack of familiarity in the playing conditions which was nearly freezing and also the fact that the Japanese squad was apparently far superior in both technique and teammanship.
The game was part of the Azkals’ preparation for their crucial AFC Challenge Cup rematch against Mongolia on March 15 and it showed they have to make plenty of adjustments when the real match begins.
“Medyo nag-aadjust pa sila sa lamig,” Azkals strength and conditioning coach Josef Malinay said in an overseas call yesterday.
The match was played in an artificial pitch at the Toki no Sumika recreational facility in Gotemba City Wednesday morning where the players according to Malinay, groped for form.
After the game, Malinay said German coach Hans Michael Weiss told his boys to “learn from this game because this (cold weather) is just a glimpse of what they should expect in Mongolia.”
When the national football team plays in Ulan Bator, the weather is expected to be between negative 8 and 20 degrees Celsius. Yesterday, temperature in Gotemba ranged from five to zero degrees.
The Azkals play another tune up match against a college team tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Azkals goalkeeper Neil Etheridge has been loaned to Charlton Athletic Football Club by his mother team, United Kingdom’s Fulham FC. Etheridge confirmed this on his Twitter account.
source: mb.com.ph
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