Azkals need home crowd to boost bid versus Thais

MANILA, Philippines - Azkals team manager Dan Palami called on all Filipinos, not just die-hard football fans, to be the “12th man” when the Pinoy booters battle fancied Thailand in the first leg of the AFF Suzuki Cup 2014 semifinals on Saturday at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.

The Azkals enter the two-leg, home-and-away semis as the heavy underdog against the War Elephants and Palami said they could use whatever advantage they can get to boost their stock.

“The smallest of factors that could affect the game, we’ll have to take advantage of. And one of the not-so-small factors, it’s actually a big one, will be crowd support,” said Palami.

“We would like all Filipinos, fan or not, to support our national team. If you’re a Filipino, be there at Rizal, wear white and let’s show them that Filipino fans can also be a factor when it comes to the games,” he added.

Azkals winger Misagh Bahadoran underscored the extra energy the players get when supporters cheer them on.

“We always play at 100 percent but if we see and hear them cheering for us, we play at 110 percent or higher,” said the Fil-Iranian.

The Philippine Football Federation has chosen the Rizal Memorial Stadium as venue for the Manila leg over the new 25,000-seater Philippine Stadium in Bocaue, Bulacan after considering all the logistical requirements of a home game.

Palami somehow saw a slight advantage in holding the match at Rizal’s artificial turf.

“The thing is, Thailand isn’t really keen on playing on artificial pitch so maybe that’s a good thing for us. Most of the players we have on the team play on that turf for most time of the year so maybe, the littlest of advantage we can get, then okay, let’s go for it,” he said.

The Azkals resumed training yesterday, a day after their return flight from Hanoi via Hong Kong. 

“It’s going to be a lot of adjustments, a lot of work (for the next six days),” said Palami.

“We’re playing in the semis against a very strong team with a clean record, a team that has beaten us (3-0) just before we went to Vietnam so it’s going to be a tough challenge and therefore we wanna make sure that the players are up to it, that tactically we will be ready and understand what has to be done in order for us to get that win against Thailand,” he said.

After 4-1 and 4-0 romps over Laos and Indonesia, respectively, to the start the group play, the Azkals were given a reality check by Vietnam, 1-3.

“That was a wakeup call – that we shouldn’t be complacent, rest on the win that we had against Indonesia...It simply showed that we still have a long way to go. Wishing for the championship is different from really working hard for it so we really have to strive harder, make sure we reach our goals,” said Palami.