Philippine Azkals U-23 Lost To Vietnam, 3-1 In SEA Games 2011 Football Games

Written By: Mr. Bill Christian Pacatang

The Philippine Azkals U-23 Men's Football Team suffered a loss against the very resilient Vietnamese Team last night. The score in last night's game was 3-1 in favor of Vietnam.

In the first half Philippines dominated the possessions. The strikers of Vietnam were clearly marked by the defenders of Philippines, especially the one-on-one match. It was Nickson Leonora who showed great defense in the 1st half. He used his lightning quick speed to beat their opponents to their spots.

With regard to the Azkals' scoring, it was Manny Ott who took care of it. He scored his first goal for the Philippines to make the score 1-0 in the 37' mark in the first half. He's definitely a blessing to this team. We should remember that he first declined the offer to play in the SEA Games, but thankfully he changed his mind in the last minute. Thus, he went to Jakarta Indonesia to play for our U-23 team. Overall it was a good first half for the Philippines.

In the second half, the match became more intense as Vietnam was making a move to score a goal. They became more aggressive and more resilient. Our on field defenders were doing their very best to stop the strikers of Vietnam but they looked more tired than the Vietnamese. Thus, lo and behold the Vietnamese got their breaks and so they were able to score 3 goals in the 59', 73' and 90' marks of the second half. Thus they convincing beat the Philippines via 3 goals to 1.

Although the Philippines succumbed to this defeat, we discovered a gem in the form of Roland Muller. He's our new goal keeper and so far he's doing great for our team. He was the one who stopped the several goal attempts of Vietnam last night. Nice job Roland Muller.

Our Team's next game will be on November 7 against Timor Leste.