By Jonas Terrado
Game Saturday
(Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
8 p.m. – Timor-Leste
vs Philippines
Philippine Azkals coach Sven-Goran Erikkson sees more room for improvement from the Philippine Azkals even after opening their AFF Suzuki Cup campaign Tuesday night with a 1-0 win over Singapore at the Panaad Stadium in Bacolod City.
Erikkson began his stint on a winning note after Patrick Reichelt scored a right-footed shot from the box in the 78th minute, allowing the Azkals to draw level with defending champion Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore in Group B with three points apiece.
Despite getting in a good position to gain one of the two semifinal berths in the group, Erikkson remains far from satisfied.
“Absolutely, it’s not done,” Erikkson said in the post-match press conference. “But it’s better to have three points than one point or zero points.
The Azkals go for their second win on Saturday when they travel to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where they are favored to beat Timor-Leste.
Timor-Leste was beaten 3-1 by Indonesia, also last Tuesday at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta.
Tactically, Erikkson would like to see better options in order to create more scoring chances.
“My expectation for the time I’m here is to try and play the ball a little bit more than we did (against Singapore),” he said. “There were a lot of long balls, but we will try to improve that in order for us to go to the semifinals.”
