Kanto Punditry: The Azkals’ Future Is To Go Old School

We think of modern football as sexy, with short passing, pace, technique, agility and 4-3-3s and 3-man backlines. But it seems the Azkals didn’t get the memo, if we go along with their recent managerial appointments. However, this old-school approach may be what the Philippines needs to step up to the Asian stage.

Sven-Goran Eriksson is certainly the biggest managerial fish the National Team has ever caught. He may be at the twilight of his career, but the man has seen it all on the biggest stage, from his native Sweden, Portugal, Serie A, Premier League to the hottest hot seat of the England National Team at the height of its “golden generation”. He has had multiple successes, Serie A and UEFA titles come to mind, and big failures, such as failing to make the Gerrard-Lampard-Beckham trio win a World Cup or a Euro. But with all of these, his tactics didn’t seem to change. Eriksson is known to favour the 4-4-2, as does short term Azkals manager Terry Butcher, as well as interim manager and now senior adviser Scott Cooper.

The 4-4-2 has fallen out of favour in today’s game. The formation has always been linked with physicality, block defending, pacey wings running and crossing, long passing, and two strikers often paired due to differing attributes (big target man-fast small man, poacher-runner, etc.). It never seemed to fit with the fancy short passing, interchanging positions and technical play modern football has evolved into.  But heading into the Suzuki Cup and the Asian Cup, the 4-4-2 is the best hope for our current pool, at least in terms of personnel and status.

As underdogs to win both cups, we can never expect to out pass or out possess the likes of Thailand or South Korea, but what we can do is tighten up our defence and hit counters that would stun. The 4-4-2, with two blocks of four tightening space in the middle of the field, ensures that teams passing their way through will have to break a solid wall in order to do so. With Eriksson’s defensive expertise, and Cooper’s physicality as shown in the recent games he helmed, the Azkals are halfway through in forming a tough defence. Another aspect of being an underdog is that it is almost certain that our offensive chances will mostly come through counterattacks, especially in the Asian Cup. Some of our players may possess superb technical skills, but the team may need to rely on direct passing and hard running in order to get a decent chance at stunning bigger nations. It so happens that the Azkals’ wings and forwards possess the necessary skills to do this, which is what a common 4-4-2 is calibrated for.

As mentioned, the 4-4-2 is suited to the majority of the current pool of Azkals. In defence, Amani Aguinaldo, Carli De Murga and Alvaro Silva possess physical defending skills that fits the old school mentality. In midfield, Manny Ott and James Younghusband can recreate what Gerrard, Beckham, Pavel Nedved and Juan Sebastian Veron did for a Sven Goran Eriksson team, facilitate the ball to the attack and spray balls to the wings. These balls could be received by the likes of Iain Ramsay, Daisuke Sato and Mike Ott, who will be required to do hard running and proficient crossing to the box. And lastly, the Azkals forwards can be combined with different attributes according to a conventional 4-4-2 like big target man(Angel Guirado), a pacey small man (Jarvey Gayoso, Javi Patino),a playmaker (Phil Younghusband),or a poacher (Misagh Bahadoran).

The Azkals are still on the rise, and the appointment of Sven-Goran Eriksson confirms that we are levelling up in the world of football. We may wait a long time for our boys to play like Pep or Klopp or even Conte, but with the hand we have been dealt, Our footballing future hinges on doing things old school.