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[av_heading heading=’Indonesia draw puts Azkals’ AFF Cup semis bid in danger ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
By ADRIAN STEWART CO
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MANILA – The Philippine Azkals’ hopes of reaching the 2016 Asean Football Federation (AFF) Suzuki Cup has been put in peril after settling for a 2-2 draw with Indonesia on Tuesday night at the Philippine Sports Stadium in Bulacan.
The Azkals, which drew goals from Misagh Bahadoran and Phil Younghusband, now faces a must-win scenario against the Thailand War Elephants on Friday to have a shot at its fourth straight semifinals stint.
“It was an exciting game. Both teams can live with the result,” said Azkals head coach Thomas Dooley. “We struggled a little bit. We created some chances but failed to capitalize.”
Indonesia quickly jumped to a 1-0 lead following a conversion by Fachruddin Wahyuti Aryanto. But the Azkals responded on a conversion by Bplahadoran in the 31st minute to knot the count at the end of the first half.
Early in the second half, Indonesia regained a 2-1 edge on a goal by Boas Theofilus Erwin Salossa, but the Azkals levelled the count anew on a free kick by Younghusband.
The Azkals had multiple chances to surge ahead in the final minutes of the match but the attempts of Stephan Schrock and Bahadoran were defended well by Indonesia’s goal keeper.
“We saw a very interesting match. We should have won it. Very unlucky but the football is like this,” said Merah Puti head coach Alfred Riedl. “Our chances are minimized (by the Azkals defense).”
In the other match, the War Elephants formally clinched a spot to the semifinals with a 1-0 escape over the Singapore Lions courtesy of a last-minute goal by Sarawut Masuk.
At the end of the two day preliminaries, the War Elephants remained on top with six points, followed by the Azkals with two points, Merah Puti with one and the Lions with none. Only the top two teams will advance to the next round./PN
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