Azkals bow to Mongolia but still moves on to next round

Azkals move on to next round of AFC tournament

The Philippine Azkals overcame a sluggish start to make the match more interesting, but fell 2-1 against Mongolia under frigid conditions in Ulan Bator.

But the national football team still advanced to the next round of the Asian Football Confederation Challenge Cup in Myanmar because they had more goals than the Mongolian team during the two-leg pre-qualifying match between the two squads. The Azkals beat Mongolia in Negros Occidental in the Philippines 2-0 in February.

Striker Phil Younghusband apologized to fans via Twitter for the Philippine team's defeat.

"I'm disappointed, we were not good enough. We should be beating teams like Mongolia," said the former Chelsea reserves team player, who suffered a hamstring injury in the 65th minute. His availability for the group stage is now in doubt.

The Azkals move on to the next round against Myanmar, Bangladesh and Palestine from March 21-26. The group's top two teams will be eligible to compete in the main tournament in 2012.

"Winning the first leg, 2-0, we knew we had a safeguard, but we still wanted to make the Philippines proud," defender Jason Sabio said. "This loss will make us fight stronger in Myanmar. It's not how hard you fall but how high you bounce back."

Azkals' coach Hans Michael Weiss attributed the loss partly to the freezing conditions at the Mongolian Football Federation field.

"The performance of the team should also be judged based on the harsh conditions here. It's difficult when there's a 50 degree difference in the weather you are used to playing in," Weiss said.

Interest in football has surged in the Philippines because of the recent success of the Azkals.

Posted by Andre Monohan on Wednesday March 16 2011, 5:22 AM EST. Ref: Inquirer. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0