Azkals blank Nepal in Dooley’s first win

MANILA, Philippines - Responding to the challenge of coach Thomas Dooley, the “new-look” Philippine Azkals cranked up their offensive and scored a 3-0 win over Nepal in their international friendly at Al Arabi Stadium in Doha Friday night (early yesterday in Manila).

To top it all, new faces, not the usual stalwarts, delivered the goals in newcomers Curt Dizon and Martin Steuble and a returnee, Ruben Doctora, whose stepped up plays rewarded Phl XI with their first win under Dooley.

“I’m happy we won the first game and I hope there will be more to come,” said Dooley, whose wards had a scoreless draw with Malaysia and suffered a 0-1 loss to Azerbaijan prior to the Nepal match.

“The players responded every single time and it makes me happy when I watch our games,” he added.

Dooley, who took over last February, infused fresh blood into his starting unit against Nepal, including debutantes Dizon, Fil-Japanese Daisuke Sato, and Fil-Swiss recruit Steuble.

He also tapped Nicholas O’Donnell to man the post and the youngster responded, making a number of good saves throughout en route to a clean slate in his debut outing for the Seniors A team.

“Nick was maybe a little nervous in the beginning but the longer the game went on, the better he got,” said Dooley of O’Donnell.

After working on improving their style of play and passing game in the previous overseas trip, the Azkals were tasked to bring out their guns in their weeklong Qatar camp and go for the victory.

The Pinoy booters broke through 14 minutes after kickoff, with winger Dizon picking up a well-placed long ball from near the halfway line from Sato to unleash a right-footed shot past the keeper.

Steuble, who was playing only his third international match for Phl, doubled the lead 18 minutes later, working in tandem with James Younghusband to uncork a thundering header.

The Azkals also created scoring chances in the second half with Doctora hitting a right-footed strike near the finish to put the punctuation point.

“We’re happy for the win,” said team manager Dan Palami. “I think we are on the right track.”

Phl XI will take the field anew on Monday night (early Tuesday in Manila) against Qatari club Al Ahli as they wrap up their Qatar camp that’s part of their preparations for next month’s Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Challenge Cup.