Azkals boss says two goals vs Sri Lanka likely

MANILA, Philippines - Azkals team manager Dan Palami is upbeat the “reformulated” Phl men’s football team will score at least two goals against Sri Lanka and emerge victorious in their upcoming 2014 Fifa World Cup Asian Qualifiers showdown.

Palami gave his vote of confidence after the Azkals wrapped up their two-week training camp in Germany in preparation for the first leg on Wednesday in Colombo and the second leg on July 3 in Manila.

“Just by judging the team that Sri Lanka had in the AFC Challenge Cup and what we’ve achieved in training camp, I must say our chances to win are good,” Palami said.

Asked how he sees the scoreline, a confident Palami said: “We’ll score at least two goals. Of course, there will be 11 Sri Lanka players who will try to stop us and score goals on their end but we’ll be ready. We’ve done all we can to prepare for this game.”

The Azkals, according to Palami, will be a “reformulated team,” carrying better cohesion, intact team play, potent offensive, and solid defense.

“We’re stronger than ever, our transition from offense to defense has become better and we really have a potent offense now. I’m really excited for our countrymen to see the reformulated Azkals: they have better cohesion, team play is intact, and we’re now able to play possession football, especially with a higher quality back four and midfield,” he said.

The Azkals played four test matches in their German camp, losing to Bundesliga second division side FC Ingolstadt 04 (0-4) and third division club SV Darmstadt 98 (0-5).

“The camp and the matches were very challenging, we played strong opponents in the last two matches and gained valuable experience,” Azkals coach Michael Weiss said in an email to The STAR.



“It (camp) really gave us the chance to not just focus on achieving cohesion but also gauge where we are at that time against strong German teams. Now we go to Sri Lanka with lessons from that camp; hopefully what we learned will be manifested in the game,” Palami said.

The Azkals arrived in Sri Lanka yesterday and the first thing on their agenda is to recover from the hours of travel they had not only in their flight from Frankfurt to Dubai to Colombo, but also from road trips to the different venues of their test matches in Germany.

“We are now a little bit tired, but we’ll get the players fresh for Wednesday,” Weiss said.


Olmin Leyba, Philippine Star