The Azkals make history in an eventful Peace Cup finale

Source: Bob Guerrero; The Passionate Fan

My postgame thoughts on the Azkals' Peace Cup-clinching win over Chinese Taipei.

This was a feel-good moment the Azkals desperately needed. The Philippines was hugely favored to lift this trophy, but the title means more because of the timing. The loss at Laos, the dropping of the team's two most popular players, and the general waning of interest for the team had hung like a cloud over the squad. All that vanished in the wake of a solid 3-1 win over Chinese Taipei. The atmosphere at pitch-side afterwards was jubilant and somewhat reminiscent of the win over Sri Lanka last year. Once again the team is enveloped in good vibes. It needs plenty of that with the Suzuki Cup looming.


There is one word that best describes the Chinese Taipei defending in the first half; and it is "shambolic." The dictionary classifies it as a primarily British slang word meaning "disorderly or chaotic." Synonyms: disorganized, muddled, "at sixes and sevens."

Lee Pin Hsien played a head-scratching pass across his goal that Chieffy Caligdong easily picked off and cooly converted. (Chieffy said afterwards it was Yang Hao Hsun, the #16 but I'm not sure.) Then Tsai Hsien Tang gift-wrapped another goal eight minutes later with a limp ball that OJ Porteria filched and stuffed into the net.

You do not play soft square passes in front of your goal when opponents are anywhere near you. Period. Never. The instinct to do so should be weeded out of you by the youth level. But twice the Chinese Taipei backline committed this most egregious of errors and paid dearly for it. Take out these two howlers and Chinese Taipei actually played a pretty good game. But then, you can never take them out. They happened.
The two blunders were indeed awful but full credit to Chieffy Caligdong and OJ Porteria for finishing so brilliantly on both occasions.

FACT: in last year's World Cup qualifying, Malaysia needed the Away-Goals rule to beat Chinese Taipei over two legs. Shocking. Malaysia would overrun this team now.

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