Azkals Lose To Vietnam 3-0!

For 60 minutes, the Azkals led 1-0. Unfortunately, football is a 90minute game.

The Vietnamese scored 2 easy goals and took advantage of an own goal from Matthew Hartmann to rout the Philippines in the last 30minutes of the match.

Despite the decent score, the Vietnamese actually dominated the Philippines at all facets of the game. The Azkals could barely get out of their own half of the field, and the Vietnamese goalkeeper was barely tested in the second half.

Junior Azkals Try To Jumpstart PHL's SEAG Campaign

The opening ceremonies for the 2011 SEA Games are still 8 days away...but the Philippine campaign starts this afternoon as the U-23 Azkals take on an extremely formidable Vietnam side.

The U-23 Azkals hope to build on the recent success of the senior Azkals but team officials hope that expectations for the team remain manageable.

After all, only Jason de Jong was in the regular rotation of the senior Azkals, with the Hartmanns, Carlos de Murga, Jeff Christaens, OJ Porteria and keeper Ronald Mueller playing only in the last few tuneup games.

They will be joined by local standouts Neckson Leonora, David Basa, Gerardo Valmayor and Joshua Beloya.

Stand by for the coverage later at 5:30pm.

More on this story here.