Philippines striker Patrick Alcala Reichelt netted the winner against Singapore tonight to ensure a debut victory for Swede Sven-Goran Eriksson in his first match as coach and also a memorable outing for team skipper Phillip Younghusband who celebrated his 100thinternational cap at the Panaad Park Stadium in Bacolod City tonight.
Reichelt’s 78th minute goal was good enough to secure full points for the Philippines in their first match of this year’s AFF Suzuki Cup. Today’s result means the Philippines are tied on three points each with Singapore and Indonesia while Thailand top Group B with six points.
In somewhat bruising tie, Singapore’s former AFF Suzuki Cup winning skipper, Mohammad Shahril Ishak suffered a dislocated shoulder while the Philippines are awaiting the medical report on defender Luke Zantua Woodland who was taken off with a bad leg injury.
Eriksson said his team created more chances and deserved to win. The former England coach gave credit to the team officials for the victory. “These three points are very important. The boys deserved the win. We were the better team and created more chances,” Eriksson said at the post match press conference.
“I am very happy, I want to thank the players, and a big thank you to the coaches who were here before me. In one week, it’s impossible to do everything. The people in charge before me have done a great job and they deserve the credit.”
Following their stunning win over Indonesia in the opening game, the Singaporeans’ confidence was high and it showed in the first 45 minutes as they continuously frustrated their opponents.
Captain Hariss Harun and his teammates, especially the boys at the back, managed to turn away their rivals attempts, and in the process, launched several moves of their own up front. But there was no way through with Cardiff City’s Neil Etheridge between the posts. They had a shot in the 17th minute but Ikhsan Fandi’s effort went just wide.
The hosts best chance of the first half arrived a few minutes later but Younghusband, who had broken loose and racing towards goal, was tackled just before he was able to release his shot. In the final moments, Gabriel Quak’s freekick took off towards goal but was cleared by Etheridge.
After the break, Philippines did most of the attacking but Singapore also managed to sneak in a few attempts. But Singapore suffered a major setback when Shahril crashed heavily in a tackle and dislocated his shoulder and was ferried away to the hospital.
“Congratulations to the Philippines, I thought they did their best. We were just a bit unlucky with injuries and had some good set pieces which we did not finish off. I thought a draw would have been a good result for both, so I’m a bit disappointed that we did not get a point.,” said Fandi. “It was a bit of a sloppy goal, but I hope we can learn from today to carry on for the next game.”
Meanwhile, the fans stayed back to show their support for Younghusband and the team. For the record, Younghusband has scored 51 goals thus far for his country.
