As one of the two senior members in the Philippine Under-22 National Men’s Football Team, Stephan Schrock knows that players must be prepared to take the good results with the bad, since football can either lead to the euphoria of triumph or to the depths of despair.
And the Filipino-German player hopes to impart that mindset — the ability to brush off dismal outcomes in order to make an impressive comeback — to his younger teammates after their 1-2 defeat to Myanmar, Wednesday evening at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila.
“[It’s] so close after the game it hurts. It’s painful that we didn’t get rewarded for the effort we did in the second half, especially,” commented the 33-year-old.
“The last fifteen minutes, we probably broke down a little bit due to… Let’s say lacking of fitness, maybe.”
When the final whistle blew, the Azkals sank to their knees and had to accept a result that could have gone their way instead. Ever the leader, though, Schrock preached that their chance to manifest destiny remains in their hands.
“Nevertheless, we can now sit in the corner and cry, or looking forward and getting six points off the last two games, which is absolutely possible. I’d rather choose the second option because I’m a never-say-die type of person. I still believe we can advance,” added the Ceres-Negros star.
“We will get the next game (and the) three points, and from then on we prepare for the next game.”
The central-midfielder lamented his team’s penchant for allowing the opposition to dominate certain periods of the contest. These breakdowns then escalated into a situation that proved too much for the Azkals to overturn.
“The coaching staff will surely address some things to us. I’m not sure why, what happened, but that’s football. We had our opportunities in those dominant thirty to thirty-five minutes in the second half to score, to get in front. But to run after a result is always difficult,” said the Philippines’ captain.
Now that the Myanmar game is over, all preparations shall be geared towards the Philippines getting the win over Malaysia to get back on track. With a ticket for the semi-finals virtually at stake, even with another game afterward, the rest of the Azkals can learn a thing or two from how Schrock is dealing with the situation at hand.
“I haven’t spoke to them yet because I felt it was not the right time, but I will speak to the boys tomorrow probably because, like I said, now is not the time to sit in the corner and cry. What happens stays in the past. So does good results count (the) same as the bad results? I choose to treat winning and losing just the same. It happened yesterday, so we chin up and look for the next two games.”
