A day before the Philippines officially hosts the biggest football tournament in Southeast Asia, Philippines Azkals head coach Thomas Dooley is happy with the team’s spirit as they prepare to take on tough teams from neighboring countries who share the same pursuit of attaining the 2016 AFF Suzuki Cup title.
“Level of confidence is high so I’m very pleased with how the team is coming back to whatever happened in the past,” the former USA captain noted.
Coming into the tournament, the Azkals had four friendlies lined up against considerably strong opposition from around the continent. Losses to Bahrain and North Korea dampened the mood of the team, but the Filipinos have home and away victories over Kyrgyzstan to put a spring in their steps. For the man at the helm, the team’s morale right now makes more of a difference than what had turned out to be a gloomy October.
“After the games against Bahrain and North Korea, we tried things out and didn’t work out the way we wanted,” Dooley pondered. As the domestic season had been wrapping up at the time, the players had looked drained. Fast forward to a month later, the Bundesliga veteran has expressed delight over what he’s witnessing in the group.
“You could see the change in the team. We have a positive attitude in the team right now. Really good positive energy.
“You can see that in training, you can see that in ourselves. We are on a right path to be a successful team,” the German-born American said of his players. Especially after a wonderful result against Kyrgyzstan in a 1-0 home friendly win last week, the Filipinos are now pumped to sustain the rhythm in order for them to get to where they want to see themselves next month.
Semifinalists in the past three editions, the Azkals now have the goal of doing at least one better by reaching the finals of the tournament. “We will see how far we can go. It would be a big step for us [in the final] because we haven’t been there and we want to progress every year,” Dooley spoke about in the pre-tournament press conference.
He added that the Azkals will have extra motivation in the so-called group of death. First, the players will be at home in the group stages. Then, all three of their upcoming foes had once denied them a ticket to the ultimate platform in the past: Indonesia in 2010, Singapore in 2012 and Thailand in 2014 all got past the Azkals in the Final Four of the Suzuki Cup, with the last two teams eventually lifting the trophy.
No wonder Dooley is wary of what all the teams are capable of and is not opting to single out a particular squad.
“Every team is a dangerous one. We analyze every team we play against. Rankings don’t mean anything,” he remarked.
“In football, anything can happen. Everything has to fall into place. We have to win games and the most important thing is the next one.”
The Azkals go into the tournament as the highest ranked team, which, as Dooley hinted, means very little especially if they fail to meet their objectives in the biennial meet.
Right now, the focus is on what comes first which is a game against Singapore. Aware of the quality the Lions possess, Dooley hopes his team can match the intensity their opponents are willing to give to them.
“They don’t want to lose against us [and] we want to win obviously. We want to go as far as possible,” the American coach said, perhaps to remind everyone — most importantly himself — of what lies ahead in what is arguably the most significant AFF Suzuki Cup edition in the history of Philippine football.
Going into the tournament with a positive vibe, the Azkals’ get their campaign underway tomorrow evening against Singapore at the Philippine Sports Stadium at 8pm. Another Group A encounter will be played ahead, when defending champions Thailand will be put to the test by a determined Indonesian team quite fresh off a lifted suspension.
