Despite lackluster finishing and suspect decision making in parts of the game, the Philippines has a lot to build on given their statistical advantages over Myanmar.
The Philippines Men’s National Football Team was left frustrated after opening their ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup campaign with a 1-1 draw against Myanmar on Thursday night at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium.
By all accounts, it was a case of two points lost rather than one point gained given the dominance of the Filipinos against their Burmese counterparts.
“We should have killed the game in the first half,” admitted Philippine defender Christian Rontini after the match.
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Just by looking at the raw stats you can see Rontini’s point.
In the first half, the Philippines managed six shots on target out of 14 attempts while enjoying 60 percent of ball possession.
On the other hand, Myanmar only had two shots on target--one of them being the well-struck Maung Maung Lwin free kick that resulted in the opening goal.
The second half unfortunately didn’t see the Philippines improve enough despite nicking an equalizer through a Bjorn Kristensen penalty.
The Filipinos ended up only having two shots on target in the second half out of eight shots overall.
While the hosts did end the game with 61 percent possession, it was a second half performance that Philippine head coach Albert Capellas found lacking.
“In the second half, I expected much more ball possession, much more control, move much more of the ball. Because then I knew they (Myanmar) would get tired,” said Cappelas. “We didn’t dominate in the way that I wanted. It is also something we have to improve.”
Despite lackluster finishing and suspect decision making in parts of the game, the Philippines has a lot to build on given their statistical advantages over Myanmar.
From a defensive perspective, the Philippines also managed to keep their keeper Patrick Deyto a relative spectator for majority of the contest.
The concession of the free kick is a point of concern though, especially since it was given after Myanmar pressed the Filipino defenders near their own penalty box.
The Philippines failed to break the press and gave up a foul in a dangerous area.
Myanmar will not be the last team that would test the Filipino defender’s ability to play out of the back and need to avoid similar situations moving forward.
The Philippines were favorites to win the game against Myanmar, but salvaging the draw is made more palatable by the result in the other Group B match played.
Laos and Indonesia also drew their match, 3-3, Thursday evening, which slightly improves the Philippines’ chance of progressing as one of the top two nations from the group.
Indonesia and Vietnam are seen as the two favored teams to progress from Group B, which means anything less than a win from either of the two is good for the Philippines.
The Philippines will next face Laos on Sunday, where a win would see them draw level in points with Indonesia after two matches played.
But either a draw or a loss in Vientiane, would complicate the Filipinos path to the semifinals.
After Laos, the Philippines will play their second home match of the Group Phase on December 18 against Vietnam at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium.
The Filipinos will then wrap up the group stage with a potentially titanic away duel against Indonesia in Stadion Manahan in Surakarta.