A solitary strike from Misagh Bahadoran gave the Philippines a morale-boosting 1-0 win over Kyrgyzstan as they snapped a two-match losing streak ahead of the AFF Suzuki Cup next week.
The Philippines will be hosting the AFF Suzuki Cup 2016 alongside Myanmar on 19 November to 17 December 2016.
And as they head into their final lap of preparation, the Philippines were desperate to inject some semblance of confidence into a squad which had been affected by the absence of several stalwarts.
“We didn’t do much in the first half, then in the second half was great commitment from the players,” said Azkals coach Thomas Dooley. “When you think of the last two games, this was a game not because of the system we played but also because of the players.
“They were fighting, you could see that they’re not just jogging and acting. They were acting instead of reacting. This was the first time they did it.”
Misagh Bahadoran nailed the only goal of the game in the 65th minute as the Philippines erased the memory of losing last month’s friendlies against Bahrain and North Korea.
The Philippines are in Group A of the AFF Suzuki Cup where they have been placed in the same group as four-times champions Singapore, defending champions Thailand and Indonesia.
