CHINESE Taipei rained on the Philippine Azkals’ parade as it snatched a pulsating 3-2 victory in their international friendly at the wet Rizal Memorial Stadium Monday night.
Sub Lin Ming-wei drove the dagger to the hosts’ heart when he scored off a rebound at the 90th minute to complete the Taiwanese’s gutsy fightback from a 1-2 deficit.
The relatively fitter visitors wrested control of possession against the fading Azkals in the second half and forced a 2-2 standoff on Yu Yao-hsing’s 57th-minute strike before Lin delivered the late winner after the initial save by Neil Etheridge.
The result denied returning coach Michael Weiss of a two-game sweep of the June international windows. The Azkals beat Nepal, 1-0, in their previous friendly last Thursday.
“In the first game, we got away but tonight (Monday), we didn’t get away. But I think the potential is really there,” said Mr. Weiss, who dealt with player injuries and short preparation time for the twin friendlies.
“If the pool is fit and (injured) players didn’t pull out last minute, we would have seen a different group for sure. Please don’t be disappointed, I think we will see many, many more positives in the September, October and November windows.”
It wasn’t the best of starts for the Azkals in that rain-drenched game against Chinese Taipei.
Just a minute and a half after the kickoff, the Taiwanese got on the board via Wu Yen-shu’s deflected free kick.
Rallied by a 3,758-strong home crowd, the Azkals got the equalizer 11 minutes later with Mike Ott winning a penalty and converting his spot kick then took the driver’s seat in the 39th on Patrick Reichelt’s fine finish.
“In the first half, we were very much in the game, a little but lucky here and there and held a 2-1 lead with morale and spirit,” said Mr. Weiss.
“But in the second half, even morale and spirit couldn’t help us in crucial situations. If you don’t have the basics right, if you come to a camp with lack of fitness coming off holidays, eventually you can’t cover up anymore,” he added. — Olmin Leyba
