SEAG draw boosts Phl U-23 semis bid

MANILA, Philippines - The Phl Under-23 team may have a seemingly “favorable” draw in the 26th Southeast Asian Games but it would take the Pinoy booters a “miraculous” effort to reach the semifinals, coach Michael Weiss said.

“It’s presumptuous to think the Philippines will win every match. If we can come to the semis, it’s a miracle, an even higher miracle than the Suzuki Cup (semis stint of the senior Azkals). But we’ll go for it (semis), of course,” said Weiss after his wards defeated an Air Force side, led by Azkals Chieffy Caligdong and Ian Araneta, 4-2, in a tuneup match Thursday at Rizal Stadium.

The U-23 squad shot for medal chances received a boost after it got bracketed in Group B with Vietnam, Timor-Leste, Laos, Myanmar and Brunei. They’ve avoided the much competitive Group A of Thailand, defending champion Malaysia, host Indonesia, Singapore and Cambodia.

“The expectations now are so high that everybody thinks the Philippines has won the World Cup. It’s ridiculous; we’re just starting, believe it or not,” cautioned Weiss, adding development of a football nation is a “long time process” and “we should intensify our efforts much much more.”

Team manager Dan Palami agreed that semis is the “realistic objective” for the U-23 Azkals and that the draw “is not really indicative of how strong the other teams are.”

“What we should realize is that these teams like Timor-Leste, Laos, Myanmar have actually built a very good youth programs for the past years and in fact, the U-19s then had good results against strong opposition and I think the players that will be going there (SEAG) will be a product of these strong programs,” said Palami.

“So to think that it will actually be easier for us, might be a misnomer. It will be very difficult. Seemingly, the draw will be to our advantage but at the end of the day, it will be how the team’s going to play, how coaches will prepare them, that will spell the difference for our U-23 team,” he added.

Palami said cohesion will be a concern as all the foreign-based players will only be on hand at the start of the SEAG on Nov. 3.

Fil-Germans Patrick Hinrichsen and Mark Drinkuth and Fil-Dutch Jason de Jong joined the team recently while Fil-German Manny Ott will arrive in next week’s camp in Gotemba, Japan. Fil-German Roland Muller, Fil-Spanish Carlos de Murga and Fil-Belgian Jeffery Christiaens will only follow suit in Jakarta already.

“But then again, it will be good to have a solid core here, to improve that core (so) it would be easier for everybody to play together. I’m just glad that these players were given time to play in (recent) Long Teng Cup,” said Palami.

Phl XI will play Vietnam on Nov. 3, Timor-Leste on Nov. 7, Laos on Nov. 11, Myanmar on Nov. 13, and Brunei on Nov. 15.

“The first match will determine where we’ll go. I hope we can play with compact, aggressive style against Vietnam; we will play deep, not risk too much, and we’ll go for draw,” said Weiss.

“The second match, we will have to win against Timor then Laos and Myanmar will determine who will be second in the group. We have to get at least four points from the Myanmar and Laos (games). Then I expect nothing else than a win against Brunei in the last match,” he added.