With two crucial games remaining in the group stages of AFF Suzuki Cup 2018, the Philippine Azkals will take on Thailand at the Panaad Park and Stadium which might send them to the top of the table or settle for second place before going to Jakarta.
At the start of the competition, pundits said the Philippines and Thailand just need two wins to progress to the knockout stages but with Singapore and Indonesia also notching three points in their first group stage matches, things looked a little bit uncertain for the Azkals.
Now, with six points in the bag, they will face the high-scoring, pacy Thailand squad and will be hoping for at least a draw before they face a familiar opposition in Indonesia. Given the marginal difference between the two teams in terms of win-loss ratio,we look at the three keys to victory for the Azkals against the War Elephants.
1) Contain Adisak Kraisorn
Back in 2012, Adisak was sent off after things heated up between him and Amani Aguinaldo but this year, the 27-year old striker caught fire in his heels as he propelled himself to a seven-goal haul in the first two matches of the tournament. Six of which came during their demolition of Timor Leste while the seventh goal came against Merah Putih.
If the Azkals will be hoping to get a point or even a win against Changsuek, they need to assign someone to man-mark the tournament’s current top-scorer just like how Amani did six years ago. Currently, Aguinaldo hasn’t featured in the Suzuki Cup this year due to an injury he sustained from his stint with Ceres-Negros FC.
Best bet to take him on should he can feature for the Azkals will be Alvaro Silva. As of posting, Silva’s appearance in the tournament is still uncertain despite him being named in Sven Goran-Eriksson’s 23. One thing’s certain, Kraisorn will terrorize the defence and Eriksson must be prepared for it.
2) Keep the pressure on their defence
Since the former England manager took over the post that Scott Cooper was taking care for him, the Azkals saw a new sight of small-ball tactics but it might not be enough when they face Thailand as the opposition’s known fr a well-organized back line and a mighty counter-attacking prowess.
During the match against Singapore and Timor-Leste, we’ve seen a lot of ball possession as well as plays running through the middle of the field, however, they tend to fall back on their old selves after a couple of good possession plays.
They will pass the ball around for around 15-20 minutes before going back to the old long-ball gaming to switch the game from left to right or vice versa. Problem with this kind of play occurs once Thailand intercepts the ball. To be brutally honest, the back-line of the Philippines will just be brushed off by the pace of the Thais come counter-attacking time.
If they would like to take all three points in Bacolod, they’d have to make sure that all passes are clicking and that they get past the final third of the opponents. They also need to make sure that they take care of the ball well while pressing the defence.
3) Home advantage should do the work
With the tickets for the grandstand being sold out and bleacher seats flying like pancakes, the Azkals are expected to play in front of a jam-packed stadium. Not only the fans in Bacolod love their football, they also come out on big occasions like this.
Not to mention the weather that the two teams will be playing under. On match day, Typhoon Samuel is expected to landfall early in the morning. The pitch will is expected to be slippery which will make the ball bouncier than the usual. As most of the players in Sven Goran-Eriksson’s side came from the PFL, they need to use the condition of the pitch come kick-off time as they’ve been playing on it for two seasons now.
