The Philippine Azkals vanquished a young Guam team, 1-0, in their
opening game in the 4-nation Philippine Football Peace Cup at the Rizal
Memorial Stadium on Tuesday.
Patrick Reichelt saved the Azkals from a scoreless draw by scoring
his first international goal for the Philippines in the 81st minute.
Running from a corner, the Filipino-German recovered a loose ball and headed it past the goal keeper’s grasp and into the net.
“Actually, the keeper was doing a good job the whole game, he was
like the best player of Guam, then I saw the ball coming to me, the
players were disturbing him, I took the chance and got in and got the
goal,” said Reichelt.
Immediately after scoring the Azkals’ lone goal, he ran towards the stands and blew a kiss to his mother.
He said he was fortunate to score the goal during his mother’s 1-day stay in Manila.
“It was like a dream come true because my mom is here spending 2
weeks from Germany, she was staying in Cebu but came here to Manila for
just 1 day,” said Reichelt.
Prior to Reichelt’s goal, the Filipinos missed several attempts despite displaying an improved passing game.
Partly to blame was Guam’s tight defense. The visiting team positioned their players close to their goal, enabling them to withstand the Azkals’ attacks in the first half.
The Filipinos made adjustments in the second half, creating more scoring chances through better ball movement.
The Azkals tallied 19 attempts at the goal--10 were on target--against Guam’s 9.
The Azkals are ranked 150th in the world, while Guam is listed No. 185.
The Philippines battled Guam minus British-Filipino siblings Phil and James Younghusband.
The Azkals are currently at the top of the standings with 3 points, followed by Taipei and Macau with 1 point each. Guam is scoreless at the bottom of the list.
The Philippines will next face Macau on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
