POPULAR »
Mon 10 February 2025

ASEAN Championship: Philippines unfazed ahead of the Thailand tie

[supsystic-social-sharing id="1"]

(Coach Albert Capellas and Bjørn Martin Kristensen)

 

by Kevin Estrada

The members of Philippine Men’s National Football Team are confident of their capabilities as they returned to the ASEAN Championship semifinals for the first time since 2018 to take on Thailand Friday evening in the first leg.

Manager Albert Capellas was ecstatic to get through to an uncharted territory for the PMNFT, as their stunning win over Indonesia six days ago ended their six-year exile from the knockout rounds.

“It’s nice to be here again. That means we qualified for the semifinals” said the Spanish gaffer to the media in attendance, whose side came out of Group B with an unbeaten slate, with three consecutive 1-1 draws before silencing Surakarta last December 21 that sent them to the last four.

A mouth-watering tie with the seven-time and reigning twice-in-a-row titleholders awaited them as their holiday present, but they knew the challenge against the War Elephants in search for their first-ever win in the knockouts.

“We have this rule that the most important game is the next game, and we won’t change that. We always prepare the games believing we can win. We know that Thailand is a very strong opponent, but we’ll attack with the same mentality.”

Forward Bjørn Martin Kristensen, whose penalty hushed the entire Manahan Stadium is looking to get back at the Thais, as he opened his international scoring account against them in Songkhla two months ago in the King’s Cup, which ended in a resounding win by the home side.

“It will be a good game against a strong opponent. It’s what we live for, to play against good teams. Hopefully we can get the win in the first leg, and the hopefully the second leg also,” he said.

With the history staring down the hosts, Capellas looks to see his side play a full match with an intact squad, especially with the fact that Thailand has their numbers in the fixture history of the tournament (10 wins, 2 draws).

“To win these big games, we have to win with eleven players,” added the former Denmark U21 boss, stating the first of his two lessons. “The second is we have to do a very good job, and we have to do it together.”

“If we work together as a team, then we increase a lot of chances to succeed.”



[supsystic-social-sharing id="2"]