By Olmin Leyba - (The Philippine Star)
MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Azkals hacked out a 4-1 victory over the Achen-Duren Selection Wednesday night in Duren, Germany as they stepped up their training for their upcoming 2014 Fifa World Cup Asian Qualifiers duel with Sri Lanka.
Phil Younghusband, playing in only his second outing for the Azkals since sitting out the AFC Challenge Cup group stages due to hamstring injury, knocked in two goals to lead the charge for the Phl side holding a two-week training camp in Germany.
His brother James and homegrown star Chieffy Caligdong also scored as the Azkals hurdled the first of their four scheduled test matches in Germany before departing for Sri Lanka on June 26 for the first leg set in Colombo June 29.
Internet reports said the Azkals utilized a 4-2-3-1 formation that stymied the opposition and maximized the skills of Angel Aldeguer Guirado and Younghusband.
“The team is slowly getting its act together. Good win against Duren selection,” Azkals team manager Dan Palami said on his Twitter account.
Coach Michael Weiss had the luxury of fielding in a more complete team against Achen-Duren than the crew that dropped a 3-4 loss to the United Football League All Stars in a previous test match in Manila.
He started off with Neil Etheridge, Anton Del Rosario, Aly Borromeo, Oliver Potschke, Manny Ott, James and Phil Younghusband, Ray Jonnson, Aldeguer Guirado, Stephan Shrock, and Caligdong. Missing the game were Fil-Dutch midfielder Paul Mulders, who left camp following his father’s death and Fil-German prospect Patrik Reichelt, who suffered an ACL injury.
“I’m happy with the result. Things are starting to fall into place,” co-skipper Borromeo posted on Twitter.
“Well done, boys! This is the first step. Now to the next step,” Phil said for his part.
The Azkals will next play the Bonner Selection at the Bonner-SC Stadium on Friday, then face second division team Ingolstadt on June 20 in Grundelfingen, and Darmstadt 98 on June 24.
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