Rizal pitch brings out best in Azkals

MANILA, Philippines - Azkals coach Michael Weiss was not joking when he said the “difficult conditions” of the pitch used in the first leg in Colombo, Sri Lanka affected the performance of the Phl side there.

Their passing game stymied by the hard surface in Colombo, the Azkals were forced to change tactic and got held to a 1-1 draw by the Brave Reds, a result that was quite disappointing to some of their fans.

“First of all, the pitch in Sri Lanka normally is being used for planting tomatoes or potatoes,” said Weiss, drawing laughter from everyone during the post-game presscon.

“Under these conditions I would almost call them irregular condition. Stony, very hard and have bumps in them and it was very difficult to play. So what we have to do is change our tactic and play long ball,” he added.

But when they played yesterday at the newly renovated pitch at Rizal Memorial Stadium, it was a totally different arena.

“The Stadium was amazing, the pitch in good condition, we were able to do our passing game,” he said.

True enough, the Azkals had better time at the Rizal field, managing to score four goals on 26 attempts to win the Fifa World Cup Asian qualifiers first-round duel with Sri Lanka.

Now, it’s on to adjusting to the pitch of Kuwait, and of course, the Kuwaitis’ skills that are far superior than the Sri Lankans’.

Olmin Leyba, Philippine Star