The Philippines’ Sandro Reyes hopes to shine in front of home fans in tonight’s ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup semifinals versus Thailand. Photo courtesy of Frenzy Claire Sadanguel
Pinoys seek breakthrough finals stint
THE Philippines plays host to holders Thailand as it vies for a breakthrough Finals stint in the first leg of the ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup semifinals tonight at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
The Filipinos are looking to make history by making it to the competition’s biggest stage after four semis appearances, but to do so they will have to defeat the War Elephants for the first time.
Thailand won the most recent encounter against the Philippines, 3-1, in the King’s Cup in Songkhla in October.
Kick off is at 9 p.m.
“We know we have quality, we’re still undefeated,” forward Bjorn Kristensen said after scoring the match-winning penalty against Indonesia that secured his side a place in the Final Four. “We didn’t have the luck with us in the first three (group) games.
“We played good against Vietnam, the group leader, so we know we have quality. It’s just we have to get the potential out,” he added.
The Filipinos will be without suspended defender Amani Aguinaldo, as coach Albert Capellas will have to do with Kike Linares and Christian Rontini to set the tone in the opening leg. Patrick Reichelt has recently announced his retirement from international football. The team will welcome back Santi Rublico, though, who bolsters the team’s options in attack.
The Philippines last emerged triumphant against Thailand was on June 12, 1972, 1-0, in the match played in Jakarta, Indonesia. The Filipinos have never won against the War Elephants in the ASEAN Championship.
Thailand won the famous golden trophy on seven occasions – more than any other country – and will take a perfect record from the group phase into their two-legged clash with the Philippines.
The War Elephants picked up wins over Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia and Timor Leste to finish on top of Group A with maximum points, conceding four times but scoring 18 in a dominant display in the opening phase of the competition.
“Thailand is a good team and we met them before. We know they have some good players, good system, good coach, everything. So it’s going to be fun,” Kristensen said.
It is important for the Filipinos to score at home, get a good result by winning and perform well in the second leg.
The return match is at Bangkok’s Rajamangala Stadium on Monday.
The semifinals will advance to Finals, which will be played on a home-and-away basis with the first leg to be held on January 2 and the return three days later.
Former winners Singapore and Vietnam went head-to-head in the first leg of their semis at Jalan Besar Stadium last night.
