By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The Philippine Azkals ended their 2022 Tri-Nations Series campaign without a win after falling at the hands of Singapore, 2-0, in their last match of the tournament.
Things worsened for the Azkals after several members of their team tested positive for COVID-19 which resulted in them being shorthanded entering their must-win match against Singapore.
The host nation only needed 10 minutes to enter the scoring column of the match after defender Safuwan Baharudin headed a corner pass from his teammate Shahdah Sulaiman.
Despite entering an early 0-1 hole in the first half, the Azkals attempted to fight back and showed a more disciplined defensive approach that limited the Singaporeans’ attempts in the succeeding minutes.
However, the Azkals had to absorb another major blow when one of their defenders, Diego Bardanca, got ejected after receiving two yellow cards with only 39 minutes of action.
The Filipinos continued their valiant stand up to the last minute but another goal from the Singaporeans at the 90th mark increased their lead to two and was enough to seal the deal.
Despite the presence of returning Azkals veterans and pioneers Stephan Schrock and goalkeeper Neil Etheridge, the Philippines still failed to notch a single goal in the prestigious tournament.
During their previous game, the Azkals lost to Malaysia, 2-0, with all the Malaysian goals coming from the first 45 minutes of the match.
The Azkals will look to move on and prepare for the upcoming AFC Asian Cup qualification third-round when they face off against Yemen on June 8.
