AFTER the Azkals’ 2-1 defeat to a disciplined but relentless Vietnamese side, should we just consider the Suzuki Cup campaign a lost cause?
The odds are stacked against the Azkals as they face The Golden Dragons on their stomping grounds at the My Ðinh National Stadium in Hanoi tomorrow. Vietnam will play the second leg with two away goals with one conceded. That means that the Philippines needs to score at least two goals to have a chance at advancing.
Problem is the Azkals struggle with scoring goals. The team managed one each against Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam all with the home advantage in Panaad Stadium, but couldn’t find the back of the net against Indonesia in Jakarta in front of 15,000 hostile fans. In Hanoi, the Azkals will face not just a team that’s determined to defend its territory, but roughly 40,000 football-mad Vietnamese spectators as well. Imagine how the din of boos, cheers and chants in My Ðinh stadium will be.
Other than that, the Azkals can find a glimmer of hope in recent Suzuki Cup history. Since 2014, the teams that advanced to the finals all won their home matches, all except Malaysia. And guess at whose expense it came? Vietnam’s.
On Dec. 7, 2014, Vietnam stunned the Malaysian home crowd when it won 2-1 in the first leg of the semifinals in Selangor. Four days later, it was Malaysia’s turn to silence the Vietnamese in Hanoi, winning 4-2 to earn a finals encounter against eventual champions Thailand. The Azkals would do anything to follow this script and overturn a similar 2-1 deficit. The question is: has Vietnam learned from the humiliation of seeing a surefire finals appearance vanish into the thin My Ðinh air?
Vietnam looks poised for its first finals appearance in 10 years, its second in the tournament’s history. The pundits say a finals slot should be in the bag because Vietnam won’t commit the same mistake twice. Don’t expect Vietnam to be complacent, even against a team that can’t score.
The pundits further say only a miracle can save the Azkals now, much like the historic win in Hanoi in 2010. But why should the football gods favor the Philippines and grant it another miracle again at the expense of Vietnam, a country whose people religiously follow the sport?
The hell with miracles. The fate of the Azkals rests upon themselves and no one else. That said, let us bid our team the best of luck. They’ll be needing plenty of that.