Pinoy booters unfazed on hostile turf

MANILA, Philippines - Facing the mighty Indonesians in the semifinals of the AFF Suzuki Cup is one thing.

But facing them before their 80,000 soccer-crazy fans at the Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta, is another.

Yet, members of the Philippine football team, which made a lot of heads turn just by reaching the semis of the Suzuki Cup, remain unfazed.

Not even a million Indonesian fans, they said, won’t change a thing.

“Maybe we can find 500 Filipinos among the 80,000 fans. That will be enough for us,” said Philippine team coach Simon McMenemy.

“It’s going to be a hostile territory and it will be overwhelming. Playing before an opposing crowd is not easy at all,” added Anton del Rosario, one of the Fil-foreigners in the team.

No, he won’t be intimidated, and he wants the rest of his teammates, known as the Azkals (street dogs), to feel the same way.

“Some get scared. I don’t. I love it,” he said.

“Yeah. That feels good. It makes me more ganado (eager),” skipper Aly Borromeo, who’s been with the Philippine team since 2004, said.

Neil Etherridge, a third-choice goalie for Fulham, said the fact that the Azkals have always played away from home can make it easier for them.

“We’re kind of used to it now. We’ve never played a home game anyway,” said the hefty, good-looking goalie.

“So, why should I change my game just because 80,000 people are watching me. I’m not. We’re not going to change how we play. We will just do our job. We will try to break them down instead of them trying to break us down,” he said.

“It would have been great playing here even before 10,000 fans. It’s not gonna change a thing playing in Indonesia, before 80,000 fans,” added Etherridge.

The semifinals of the Suzuki Cup is an unknown territory for the Philippines, and probably never in history has a Philippine team played before a crowd as big as the one that will show up tonight.

The Filipinos will play the Indonesian tonight and on Sunday in their two-game semis matchup. It’s actually an aggregate score setup although goals scored by visiting teams would weigh heavier in case of a tie.

If tonight’s match ends in a 1-1 draw, and Sunday’s match ends in another draw, the Philippines will advance to the finals by virtue of its “away” goal scored in the first match.

On way to the semis, the Philippines drew with Singapore and Myanmar, and stunned Vietnam, 2-0. Not since 1970, when a Philippine selection led by four Spanish players defeated South Korea, 2-0, in Bacolod has it been this big.

Now everybody’s looking forward to tonight’s match, and even President Aquino is expected to be glued in front of the giant Malacañang screen to watch the match.

“The pressure will be the same – even if we play the Indonesians here. It will always be there. But we shouldn’t allow the crowd to take the game away from us,” said forward Ian Araneta.

The other semis matchup pits Vietnam against Malaysia, and the winners will advance to the finals on Dec. 26 and 29.

The Azkals registered five points on a win and two draws in the group stage in Hanoi on their way to clinching a maiden semifinal appearance in the 14-year history of the tournament.

“It’s a tough task (winning against Indonesia) made even tougher by the fact that the crowd will be behind them,” said team manager Dan Palami.

“But the team knows that we have the entire country behind us as well. The players are ready. They have worked hard to reach this level,” added Palami, who has bankrolled the team since last year.

The duel will actually pit the best attacking and best defensive team of the tournament. Indonesia has scored 13 goals so far with five players scoring two goals each, while the Philippines has conceded just one.

“We are just playing to our strengths,” said Philippine team head coach Simon McMenemy. “We are not equipped to change tactics. We are not yet at that level.”

On the other hand, the Indons will lean heavily on the attacking duo of barrel-chested Cristian Gonzales, a Uruguayan who was naturalized to play for the Indons before the tournament, and Dutch-Indonesian Irfan Bachdem.

The Indonesians’ attack is so deep that even star striker Bambang Pamungkas is now coming off the bench for the tournament.

“I think we are going to be okay as long as we give 100 percent,” said McMenemy.  

“We never expected to win games. We weren’t focusing on the results. What we were focusing on was getting the maximum from these players. But we were able to score. And we managed,” added the British coach, who said his players are still adjusting to all the new attention.

“It’s always a rush now getting in and out of the lobby. Now we have fans,” he added.

The Filipinos will try to buck a history of futility against the Indonesians, who have beaten them thrice in their head-to-head clashes in Southeast Asia’s men’s soccer championship, among them a stinging 13-1 whipping at the same stadium in the 2002.

“They (Indonesians) will be the favorites. They’ve been unbeaten so far. And if they were to pick a team to face in the semis they would pick us,” said McMenemy.

All that can change tonight.