AFC Challenge Cup Qualifiers: Bangladesh vs Philippines Update 3

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Bangladesh vs Philippines

Delayed telecast sked:

AFC Challenge Cup: Palestine vs Philippines Update 3

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Philippines vs Palestine

After watching the delayed telecast of the match, here are the numbers:

Philippines		Palestine
0	Goals	0
8 (5)	Shots Taken (on Target)	19 (7)
2	Corner	9
0	Offside	1
8	Free Kick	5
3	Yellow Card	1
0	Red Card	0

I got the Corner Kick and Free Kick numbers from ABS-CBN but the rest I counted it myself.  We differ in the Shots Taken stat (they had Philippines-13 and Palestine-18).  I dunno if mine are accurate, especially the Shots on Target numbers coz it can be a bit difficult to decide if it’s on target or not.  Anyway, in counting the shots (and shots on target), I based this on the definition here (and after reading this definition, I’m doubting the accuracy in my Shots stats in the Myanmar game… oh well, I guess I’ll learn as I move along J).

Yellow Cards:

            Simon Greatwich (Philippines)

M S Albahdari Abdallatif (Palestine)

            Anton Del Rosario (Philippines)

            James Younghusband (Philippines)

I know this isn’t usually done but I’m separating the figures of the 1^st half from the 2^nd half so you can see how the game changed from after halftime.  Coz sometimes a team starts slow at first and would pick up in the second half, or vice versa.  And if you just look at the over-all stats, sometimes it won’t tell you the complete story of the game, so here’s my 1^st half-2^nd half breakdown of the stats J

AFC Challenge Cup Qualifiers: Philippines vs Palestine Update 2

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Philippines vs Palestine

Delayed Telecast Schedule:

Champions League Quarterfinals Schedules 2

I have been looking for this for while now... and I finally found it.. Here's the Champions League match fixtures up to the Finals stage:

"borrowed" the image from this site :)

I'm hoping for the Semis it will be:

Real Madrid vs Barcelona and Inter Milan vs Chelsea (but I don't really mind if it will be Man U)

And for the finals, I hope it will be Barca vs Inter Milan, with Barca being champions :)

AFC Challenge Cup Qualifiers: Bangladesh vs Phil update 2

Is that Ian Araneta under that pile?  He scored the 1^st goal of the match.  
Wouldn’t it be cool if he can score another hat trick?  Then he’d have a hat trick of hat tricks :P

Photo from www.pinoyfootball.com by Craig Burros and Roy Moore.  More pics here.



Yesterday’s 3-0 victory of the Azkals and their consequent advance to the 2012 AFC Challenge Finals has been much covered by the media.  I can’t really say much about the game coz I’m waiting for ABS-CBN to confirm the schedule of the delayed telecast.  So while we wait for the delayed telecast, here are some great articles on the match by people who were there (lucky them):

Guirado stars as Azkals destroy Bangladesh in AFC Challenge Cup (GMA News Online)

Azkals blank Bangladesh, qualify for AFC Cup (INQUIRER.net)

Azkals win, advance to AFC Challenge Cup finals (The Manila Bulletin)

Azkals pinataob ang Bangladesh sa iskor na 3-0 (ABS-CBN News)

Bangladesh 0-3 Philippines

Philippines Make History With Dominant Win Over Bangladesh

AFC Challenge Cup closer as Azkals trounce Tigers (ABS-CBN News)

Azkals crush Bangladesh, gain AFC slot (INQUIRER.net)

A taste of sweet victory for Philippine Azkals (ABS-CBN News)

And there are even video highlights… personally, I don’t wanna watch it coz I still want to feel a little excitement and surprise when I watch the delayed telecast of the match (even if I already know the outcome)… but if you’re interested, here are the links:

Philippines vs Bangladesh - TV5's live report at the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup Qualification

Panayam kay Ian Araneta matapos ang 3-0 panalo ng Azkals laban sa Bangladesh-Azkals

Bandila - March 25, 2011

This is crazy… three years ago, Philippine Football may probably not have this much coverage.  And I am soo happy that this sport is finally getting attention.  I hope many Pinoys out there will finally appreciate this beautiful game.

Here’s a great article about the fans (new and old) of Philippine Football.  I agree with what writer is saying.  I started to like football because of a certain sexy, hunky player.  Now, that player has already retired but I’m still around.  Sometimes too obsessed with the sport that I annoy friends that are non-fans J  …I hope new fans will stick around, long after these players will hang up their boots.

BTW, the Philippines vs Palestine match will be aired on Tuesday while the Philippines vs Bangladesh will be on Wednesday.  But official word yet on the exact times and the replay.

AFC Challenge Cup: Bangladesh vs Philippines

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Bangladesh vs Philippines

In the crucial game which decides if the Azkals will advance to the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup, Philippines came out strong and won a resounding victory with 3 goals.  First goal came from Ian Araneta in the 41^st minute, ending his international goal drought (of 9 games).  Angel Aldeguer Guirado scored the last two goals in the 55^th and 80^th minute.

I can’t really comment more on this as I didn’t get to watch the game.  But reading it from the tweets of @craigburrows, @roymondous, @cedelfpt and @DYANCASTILLEJO, it seemed like it would have been a very exciting game to watch.

Anyway, with all games played in the Group A, here’s the updated table:

Team	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Palestine	3	2	1	0	5	1	4	7
Philippines	3	1	2	0	4	1	3	5
Bangladesh	3	1	0	2	2	5	-3	3
Myanmar	3	0	1	2	2	6	-4	1

Match Scores
Myanmar vs Philippines	1-1
Palestine vs Bangladesh	2-0
Philippines vs Palestine	0-0
Bangladesh vs Philippines	3-0
Myanmar vs Palestine	1-3
Bangladesh vs Myanmar	2-0

Palestine and Philippines tops the group and will qualify for the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup.  They will be joining India, Turkmenistan, Maldives and Tajikistan.  We’ll know by April 12 who will be taking last two slots for the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup.

I heard that Studio 23 will be air the delayed telecast of the Philippines vs Palestine game on March 29 @ 4PM (but I dunno yet if this is true, I’ll let you know).  But there’s definitely no schedule yet for the delayed telecast of Philippines vs Bangladesh game as ABS-CBN is still trying to get a copy of the video.  We’ll keep you updated.

AFC Challenge Cup Qualifiers: Philippines vs Palestine Update

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Philippines vs Palestine

Angel Aldeguer Guirado, a menacing figure up front.

I wouldn’t want to be the player marking him. 

Photos courtesy of Craig Burrows

and Roy Moore of pinoyfootball.com.  More of their pics here.

Since we probably have to wait until next week to see the delayed telecast of this match, here are the great articles covering the game:

Figting draw puts Azkals in a do-or-die
Azkals Battle Palestinians to a scoreless draw
Match Insights: Philippines 0-0 Palestine
Reporting from Rangoon
PH Azkals settle for second draw

I’ll update you as soon as I get the delayed telecast sked of this game.

AFC Challenge Cup: Philippines vs Myanmar Update 2

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Myanmar vs Philippines

Finally saw the delayed telecast of the match and here are the numbers:

Myanmar			Philippines
1st Half	2nd Half		1st Half	2nd Half
0	1	Goals	0	1
11	2	Shots Taken	5	14
6	1	Shots on Target	3	8
4	1	Corner	0	4
2	0	Offside	2	0
1	1	Free Kick	2	2
0	0	Yellow Card	0	0
0	1	Red Card	0	0

I separated the figures of the 1^st half from the 2^nd half so you can see how the game changed from after halftime.  The numbers confirmed how the Azkals had a slow start, not having a lot of chances and were mainly defending the shots of Myanmar.  And you’ll see in the 2^nd half, they seem to pick up their game and become more offensive. Btw, the figures for shots taken & on target came from my count, it actually does not match ABS-CBN's which is Myanmar-15 and Philippines-11 for Shot Attempts.  Dunno if mine are accurate..

Goals:

            76^th minute – James Younghusband (Philippines)

            90^th + 3 minute – Khin Maung Lwin (Myanmar)

Red Cards:

            Kyaw Zin Htet (Myanmar)

I know this is 2 days too late and there have been a lot of news/reports on this game, but here are my two cents on this match (if you’re interested):

AFC Challenge Cup Qualifiers: Azkals' chances

Here’s my attempt on being an expert (hope I got my calculations correct)…

Assuming that Bangladesh will win in tonight’s game against Myanmar (as they are leading 1-0 in half time), there will be nine possible outcomes with the last two games.  But here are the three scenarios on which the Azkals can advance to the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup…

Scenario 1: Palestine loses to Myanmar and we win against Bangladesh

Scenario 2: Palestine vs Myanmar will end in a draw and we win against Bangladesh

Scenario 3: Palestine wins against Myanmar and we win against Bangladesh

 

If Bangladesh vs Myanmar game will end in a draw, then here are the scenarios for us to qualify:

Scenario 1: Palestine loses to Myanmar and we win against Bangladesh

Scenario 2: Palestine vs Myanmar will end in a draw and we win against Bangladesh

Scenario 3: Palestine wins against Myanmar and we win against Bangladesh

Scenario 4: Palestine wins against Myanmar and we draw in our match against Bangladesh

Scenario 5: If Palestine vs Myanmar will end in a draw and we draw in our match against Bangladesh, we will be tied with Myanmar for the 2nd spot.  It will then be decided based on Goal Difference, that means we need to score lots and lots of goals

But one thing is for sure, it is important that we WIN our last game.

Champions League Quarterfinals: Shaktar vs Barcelona

Watch four of Shakhtar's main defensive players react to the news that they will be facing Barcelona in the Quarterfinals:

I kinda feel bad for Shakhtar.  With people saying that Barcelona is one of the best tems in the world right now and a shoo-in to win their quarterfinals matches, you wouldn't want to be the team they'll be playing against.

But I will say this again: I hope Barca lives up to this expectation, because stranger things have happened in football.  Majors upsets are nothing new to this game (so I'm keeping my fingers crossed).

AFC Challenge Cup Qualifiers: Philippines vs Myanmar Update

Myanmar vs Philippines Replay Skeds:

March 23 @ 10:15PM on Studio 23

March 24 @ 3PM on Studio 23
March 24 @ 12NN on Balls Channel
March 25 @ 4PM on Balls Channel

Here’s the Official Statement from ABS-CBN regarding the replay of the Philippines vs Myanmar match:

Barring any flight delays, ABS-CBN Sports will air MYA-PHL match tom. at 10:15 p.m. (replay on Mar. 24, Thurs., 3 p.m.) on St. 23. Video quality is far from the best as it was shot by MRTV.

was this the shot that scored the equalizer? 
We'll just have to wait for the replay.  More pics here

So in the mean time, you can check out these news articles on the game:

Azkals held to draw by late injury time goal

Azkals blow won game, take draw

Azkals settle for draw with Myanmar

Myanmar denies win for Philippine Azkals in 1-1 draw

AFC Challenge Cup Qualifiers: Philippines vs Myanmar

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Myanmar vs Philippines

March 21 @ 5PM (Philippine Time)

The match ended with a 1-1 draw.  What makes it a heartbreaking result is that Myanmar equalized during the last minute (literally!) of the stoppage time.  Last minute goals are pretty frustrating if you're the team leading in score.  'Coz you're there thinking, you've got it in the bag, just a few minutes more... and all of a sudden, you lose your lead and you barely have time left to get it back.  But, that's football for you... anything can happen.

I can't really say anything more about the match since there was no live telecast.  Myanmar did not grant our request for a live coverage of the game, we had to rely on twitter updates by people who were there (sucks, right?).  ABS-CBN will try to secure a copy of the video coverage of the match and the person who will be bringing the video to the Philippines will arrive here by Wednesday (Mar 25) morning and ABS will try to air it as soon as they can.

I’ll update you in case I’ll find photos of the game.

If you haven’t caught the live twitter updates, I’ve tried to collate the tweets of @craigburrows, @DYANCASTILLEJO, @cedelfpt, @philfootball and @PhilYHusband to get an “almost” minute-by-minute commentary (“almost” because internet connection in Myanmar is patchy). 

Here you go: