Until last night, the closest the Azkals came to matching their Middle Eastern opponents was about two years ago, when they held Bahrain to a scoreless draw.
In a friendly a couple of months ago, the Azkals lost 2-1 but showed remarkable improvement in their management of the midfield.
And then, some more pieces of the puzzle fell into place, as dangerous goalscorer Javier Patino took to the field once again and Ian Ramsay joined him in the midfield. Stephan Shrock also rejoined the Azkals and suddenly, our attacking prowess just zoomed to a whole different level.
Shrock was injured after 25 minutes in but in a magnificent show of depth, Misagh Bahadoran came in and became the difference Shrock was supposed to be. Patino showed his attacking quality after kicking in the rebound from another Bahadoran shot and the Azkals were well in control of the match.
They did concede a goal at the 93rd minute and it was a very uncharacteristic one, with the Bahrainis catching the Azkals back four sleeping. Up to that point, the defense was rock solid, with Rob Gier and Juani Guirado seemingly everywhere. Nonetheless, the Azkals came away with three points and one of the most impressive wins in our nation's recent football history.
The difference, in my opinion, is the upgrades we've been seeing in almost all positions. We've been fielding in players that are better and more skilled than ever. Before, Phil Younghusband and Chieffy Caligdong were our only offensive options. But the entry of Javier Patino, Stephan Shrock, Ian Ramsay and even the steady improvement of Bahadoran have given the Azkals offense even sharper fangs.
Our defense is also more experienced and more balanced, with the experience of Gier and Guirado meshing well with the young legs, speed and exuberance of Daisuke Sato, Amani Aguinaldo and Simone Rota.
If this game is any indication, we should be able to hold our own against Yemen. Hopefulyl, we come away with another three points then.
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