MANILA, Philippines -- Five days after the Philippine Azkals put up a gallant stand against Group H leader North Korea, their level of play dropped significantly as they fell to their first round victim Bahrain, 0-2, in the 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers on early Wednesday (Manila time) at Bahrain National Stadium.
After almost 60 hours of travel from Manila and different parts of Europe to Beijing, China for their flight to North Korea and back to China for another trip to Bahrain via Abu Dhabi in a span of 10 days, it took a heavy toll on them as evidently shown at the end of a back-to-back road assignments.
The Bahrainis, who relentlessly attacked and challenged the backline of the Azkals' defense, finally found an opening in the 53rd minute which Ismail Abdul Latif quickly took advantage for the breakthrough goal.
Eight minutes later and still recovering from the shock of that Latif attack, the Azkals again yielded a goal via a phenomenal free kick from Sayed Adnan Hussain.
The loss was a big blow to the Azkals' bid to make it to the next round as they got stuck at seven points only good for third spot behind Uzbekistan (nine points) and North Korea (13 points).
"We just didn't have enough legs in the second half," rued Azkals coach Thomas Dooley in the post-match press conference.
Uzbekistan have taken the second spot with nine points when they blasted Bahrain, 4-0, last week to move to 3-0-1 (win-draw-loss) record. The Azkals, meanwhile, dropped to 2-1-2 (win-draw-loss) card following their failure to repeat their 2-1 conquest of Bahrain in the first round.
With the win, Bahrain now lurks behind the Azkals with six points on the strength of a 2-0-3 (win-draw-loss) record.
Only the top team from each of the eight groups and the best four second place finishers will advance to the third round.
The Azkals will try to recover their bearings when they host Yemen on Nov. 12 at home.