Azkals foil Vietnamese on Chieffy late sizzler

BANGKOK – It was 2010 all over again as the Philippine Azkals pulled off another reversal over Vietnam, 1-0, to revive their semifinal bid in the AFF Suzuki Cup Group A hostilities Tuesday night at the Rajamangala Stadium here.

Skipper Chieffy Caligdong, coming in as sub, struck at the 86th minute to lift the Phl XI to the victory that brought back memories of their 2-0 conquest two years ago, a well-documented major upset that triggered a sweeping interest in Philippine football and sparked the Azkals’ rise to prominence.

The morale-boosting triumph gave the Azkals three points through two matches, effectively keeping them in the hunt for a Final Four berth after getting stymied by a 1-2 setback to host Thailand last Saturday.

“My team fought like lions and warriors like me,” said Azkals coach Michael Weiss, who witnessed the action and sent out instructions from the stands as he served his ban for getting sent off in the loss to the Thais.

“We had to withstand the power attacks of Vietnam, a team that cannot be given an opening or else they’ll exploit it sooner or later. So we had to play excessive defensive style with counter attacks and this got into swing after the changes we made, sending in Angel Guirado, Caligdong and (Denis) Wolf (in the second half). You  can say they changed the match but really all that would not be possible without the fantastic defense line,” he added.

Caligdong found himself at the receiving end of a nifty pass from fellow sub Guirado and launched a shot from the left side that touched a wild celebration among Filipino fans in the stands and thousands more back home. Cheers from the Phl gallery erupted as the Caligdong did his characteristic “airman dance.” 

The Azkals will seek to secure a berth to the Last 4 with another win against Myanmar on Friday.

“We are back in the race and we’re now playing a strong Myanmar side (next) and hopefully succeed to semifinals,” said Weiss.

Meanwhile, as they embark on a frantic bid to duplicate their semis stint in the Suzuki Cup, the Azkals are further fired up by the drive to give fans a “home game” in the knockout stages of Southeast Asia’s premiere tournament.

Two years ago, the Azkals were forced to concede home-field advantage to rival Indonesia, no thanks to the absence of a suitable venue then. They were subsequently forced to play before a hostile crowd at Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta in what’s supposed to be their home game.

But since the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium’s renovation after that, the Azkals now have a home, should they get that deep in the ongoing Suzuki Cup.

The AFF had already approved the Rizal Stadium for the possible semis staging on Dec. 8 or 9.