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| XI against Vietnam * |
After suffering through two awful defeats, the Philippines finally won one to salvage some ounce of pride. I had to admit I was expecting the worst. After all, Matthew Hartmann, our team Captain put it upon himself to abandon ship before the ship even sank! Though of course I am not privy to the true state of affairs between him and the coaching crew, it still begs the question, why would you leave your team? You are the Captain and as far as I know, the coach did not take it away from him before he left. Another issue was that supposedly one or both of the brothers had their girlfriends stay at the same hotel which was a violation of team policy. One would think a young team like that would just tuck tail and run, or worse have parts of the team siding with the coaches and another with the affected brother/brothers. So this was the situation confronting my young Azkals before the game.
Fortuitously the presence of a massively experienced Manny Ott and Jason de Jong, served to right the ship. Coach Weiss wisely gave the leadership responsibility to the fiery, active and dependable young fireplug named Jason de Jong.
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| New Capt. Jason de Jong |
To those who don't know, this youngster has been and still is in the higher football clubs in his native Netherlands. After a short spell when he did not have a club early this year, he was picked up by the Eerste Divisie(2nd tier) team, FC Dordrecht as a player in its youth/reserve team. He has also been a long time player for the senior Azkal teams during their fairy tale runs in 2010, beating out older and more experienced players with sheer tenacity. With few exceptions, he has played the most steadily during the SEA games unaffected by what has been going on around him. Against Timor Leste, he let loose his offensive side and played extremely well in the second half. Against Laos, he showed more of his versatility as he played Center Back in the second half.
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| Co Capt. Manny Ott |
Manny Ott, the newly designated Co Captain, is another player who is in the German soccer system. He is a professional, playing for Ingolstadt II(U23). They are in the Regionalliga Sud which is the 4th tier. Though arriving the previous night from Germany and playing against the heavily favored Vietnam, he nevertheless showed his offensive prowess by scoring the first goal in the match. Though eventually he would be subbed out from fatigue. Against Laos he does the same but in an earlier 6th minute. Though young, both players had been in starting XI of the senior national team(when they are available from club duties) against the likes of Kuwait, Indonesia, Singapore, Nepal etc. All teams that are ranked significantly higher than the Philippines.
Against Laos the starting line up were:
Muller(1)
Hinrichsen(16)-----JvB(4)-----Leonora(27)-----Basa(15)
JdeJong(17)
Porteria(7)-----Ott(8)-----JeffreyC(20)
Clarino(9)
Valmayor(28)
Suspended:
Carli de Murga
Substitutions:
Beloya(11) for Valmayor 34'
Marwin Angeles(24) for Basa 46'
Mark H(23) for Clarino 55'
Cards:
Jacques van Bossche(4) 54'
P. Hinrichsen(16) 55'
P. Hinrichsen(16) 60' OUT
Goals:
Manny Ott(8) 6' (assist, Valmayor)
J. Beloya(11) 89' (assist, Mark H.)
J. Beloya(11) 90'+2 (assist, Mark H.)
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| JBeloya #11 from thelead-uslsmasscomm.journ.ph |
I won't bore you with other game details, every other sports writer has written one already, suffice it to say we are surprised with the outcome and some of the players that really performed in this game. I'll start with Beloya. Obviously he is now a household name to those of us who are not "hardcore" fans.Though we knew of him, we did not know his quality. Most definitely we know now! Thanks Josh, we needed this win. Oh if you're wondering of his playing pedigree? He used to be in the youth system of FC Zurich, a Super League team(Swiss 1st tier). You can Google the rest.
Mark Hartmann, after starring against local opponents this year, slid towards mediocrity in international matches, being called slow, sluggish, loathe to defend, selfish among other unflattering things. It didn't help that there was that "twitter" incident during the Long Teng Cup a few weeks back. Perhaps seeing himself already a star before accomplishing anything concrete, he none the less showed his quality in this game against Laos. He delivered pin point passing, long ball accuracy, finesse and unselfish football. With my trusty old VHS recorder and even older and moldy VHS tape, I watched(though the tape would crap out on me) him defend in the box, eventually clearing the ball which was less than 5 steps from goal! He played a better game in less than a half compared to the last two SEA games combined. I hope he continues to play this way, let stardom follow when they may.
The Bad:
Honestly, I feel happy for beleaguered Coach Weiss. This win should give him and his team more confidence playing against always dangerous Myanmar. I used to complain against his ultra conservative substitution system. He has since relaxed his ways. Now the main concern for me and some of my fellow fans at usapangfootball.proboards.com is his penchant for experimenting with player positions(which I personally believe is the reason for some close calls and outright loses, but that's another story for another time). For example, against Timor Leste, he stuck Patrick Hinrichsen a natural mid as a left back. As a result, one of the goals made by TL was from his side. Though running step for step, he could not remove the TL player from his line, thus a goal. I cannot help think that if he had a real defensive player there, that that def specialist could have done better. Eventually he replaced Hinrichsen at the LB position with a... Striker, Mark Drinkuth!????
In the Laos game he started the very same midfielder at the OTHER side(RB)! Results, two yellow cards while attempting to defend, within 6 minutes. Out at the 60th minute! Mind you there were other defensive players available on the bench.
The coach has had good successes though, a good example would be BFC Preussen Berlin midfielder Oliver Potchke who he played as a Center Back in the LTC with good success. But coach, moving a player who couldn't handle one side, to the other side is just ridiculous!
* thanks to missosology.info for top picture
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