What Happened During The Azkals-Sri Lanka Match?

It's been two days since the Azkals salvaged a draw against Sri Lanka, a team they were supposed to beat (by 2 goals, if we were to believe former Azkal coaches).

As the hysteria dies down, let's take a look at the what really happened during the match.



THE SUBPAR PLAY OF ANGEL GUIRADO AND PHIL YOUNGHUSBAND. Guirado and Phil Younghusband are the acknowledged offensive leaders on the Azkals. PYounghusband has a reputation for finding the back of the net while Guirado is a creative attacker who can score or assist. In this game, Guirado seemed tentative and listless, and didn't bother to use his height and heft advantage in the Sri Lanka box. Announcers say he is still nursing a leg injury which brings me to the question "Is Guirado on one leg better than Ian Araneta on two legs?". Phil Younghusband had 2 great opportunities to score for the Azkals. Both shots were weak and easily caught by the goalkeeper. Not typical PYounghusband shots which leads me to believe his injured hamstring flared up really early in the match, limiting his leg power. He was subbed in at the 35th minute and his replacement, Nate Burkey, headed in the tying goal.

LOSS OF COMPOSURE. The Sri Lankans spent the week listening to how the Azkals were better, stronger and would beat them up on their home field. They then spent the first 15 minutes of the match elbowing, kneeing and body-ing up the Azkals, who lost their composure and retaliated, picking up 3 yellow cards in the first half. The Sri Lankans then proceeded to fall to the ground and writhe as if shot by a Magnum every time an Azkal so much as looked their way. The Azkals couldn't focus on their game plan and that cost them dearly.

DEFENSIVE LAPSES. If the Azkals have a clear weakness, it's on defense. Ally Borromeo, Anton del Rosario and Paul Mulders had moments of brilliance but they also had "What the?!" moments, several of which almost became Sri Lankan goals. Several times, it was Caligdong and Schrock coming back from offense who foiled the Sri Lankans. Neil Etheridge's goalkeeping abilities were severely tested because the backline simply could not keep the Sri Lankans out of the box.

If you look back on my five keys to winning the game, you can see that all five came into play here. Let's see how we measured up.
A dominant Guirado. Didn't happen.
An aggressive Phil Younghusband. Subbed out after 35minutes due to injury, missed two great chances at goal.
Good showing from the new Azkals. Burkey, Mulders, Schrock and Ott all played well.
Better defensive effort. For the most part but still gave away too many chances to the Brave Reds.
A not-so fatigued Etheridge. Tested over and over again.

All in all, a 1-1 draw is something I can live with. Why? We got an away goal, which is worth 2 aggregate points. Which means we are actually ahead.. All we need is a scoreless draw and we'll go on to the next round.

Go Azkals!