Weiss move vs Mongolia - play it safe

MANILA, Philippines - Hans Michael Weiss said he likes to play it safe.

Yesterday, he gave a glimpse of himself, and his coaching style perhaps, when he said it’s no guarantee that the Philippines would beat Mongolia in their forthcoming AFC Challenge Cup tie.

“We should not underestimate Mongolia,” said the 45-year-old German coach, now tasked to steer the Azkals to greater heights, following their historic Top 4 finish in the AFF Suzuki Cup.

Mongolia is way behind in football, with its FIFA ranking of 182, compared to the Philippines’ 153. Mongolia is also the only FIFA affiliated team ever to lose a match to Guam, one of the weakest football teams in the world.

But the country of only 2.7 million people has an Olympic gold to show, that of judoka Tuvshinbayar Naidan in the men’s 100-kilogram class of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The Philippines has none.

Besides, anything can happen in football, as in any other sport.

“It’s not an automatic result,” Weiss insisted during the contract signing between the Philippine Football Federation and ABS-CBN, making the giant TV network the official home of the Azkals.

 The 6-foot-2 coach, taller than most of the players in his lineup, said he’s happy with what he has, 30 names from which he would choose the final 25 in time for the Feb. 9 match with Mongolia.

On March 15, they all fly to Mongolia for the second leg of the tie.

“There are negative (signs) but I won’t conceal it here, but not many. I’m happy the boys are responding to the training, the conditioning and technical aspects,” he said.

Weiss said he’s working on turning the Azkals into a more offense-oriented team, one that would harness the skills of such players like Phil and James Younghusband, Chris and Simon Greatwich, Anton del Rosario, Jason de Jong and Ian Araneta.

“We want to be offensive oriented and I hope we can see that on the ninth. But as I’ve said before, I prefer to play on the safe side, and make it clear to them that there are also 11 players on the other side,” he said.

He admitted that good results don’t come overnight, and that he has certain ways of training that it may take a little time for his players to adjust, like pushing the line a little more, and putting more pressure on the opponent.

“If we do it, then a tight 1-0 match will not be very entertaining,” he said.

Weiss has been in the country for just over a week since taking over Englishman Simon McMenemy. During the well-attended contract signing, a member of the Filipino coach referred to him as “Coach Simon.”

The German with a vast experience in coaching, having been with Spain’s Real Madrid and England’s Arsenal, and armed with Bachelors degree in sports science and management, took it in stride.

“That guy (McMenemy) deserves credit, too. So, I’m calling myself Michael McMenemy from now on,” he said.

Again, he’s just playing it safe.