Not in our house: Azkals keep Lions in scoreless draw

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Azkals kept the Singapore Lions from scoring the precious "away" goal in a scoreless draw in the first ever AFF Suzuki Cup semis home match staged in the country at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum tonight.

Now the Azkals will need to get that "away" goal, which carries more weight in case of a tie, in Singapore, on Dec. 12.

Before a pre-dominant Filipino fans clad in white, the Azkals felt the pressure to deliver at home in the first half.

Singapore took advantage getting the lion's share of possessions that forced the Azkals backpedalling on defense.

Rob Gier anchored the backline defense with several deflections while Ed Sacapano continued his streak of clean sheets with timely saves.

The Azkals settled down in the second half with Patrick Reichelt springing back to life from a sub-par game in the opening half.

The Fil-German set the tone early on with a free kick earned that jumpstarted the Azkals' aggressive attack. Then late in the match, he almost put the Azkals on board with a wily move faking off his defender before firing from the left flank that was caught by Singapore keeper Izwan Mahbud.

Angel Guirado also posed some threat to Singapore’s defense but eventually got tired out while Paul Mulders almost scored in the 71st minute but his curling free kick just sailed left.

With Phil Younghusband a marked man all throughout the match, Azkals coach Hans Michael Weiss brought in Vietnam match hero Chieffy Caligdong in the 77th minute.

Caligdong, however, could not duplicate his heroics. He caught a Phil Younghusband long diagonal pass from near the midfield that brought the fans on their toes. But the former Philippine Air Force star failed to capitalize and went too deep in the left flank missing a chance to score.

The Azkals must now win it on the road to continue their amazing AFF Suzuki Cup run. Any draw except a nil-nil will tow them to the finals.

Another scoreless draw, however, will result in a penalty shootout. The Azkals have won in Singapore, 2-0, courtesy of Chieffy and Phil's goals the last time they visited the Lions there in a friendly last September.

It was the country's first win over Singapore that was followed up with a 1-0 win in Cebu last month.