Philippines 4 Sri Lanka 0 (Agg: 5-1)

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Category: football

Published on Wednesday, 06 July 2011 01:27

Written by Sheraj Obeysekera

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Sri Lanka played the away leg of the FIFA world cup qualification first round against the Philippines in Manila and failed to do what was required to progress in the competition. Coming into the game the Lankans had a fair chance of progressing with the first leg resulting in a 1-1 draw but the Lankans needed to score to have any hope of progressing which they failed to do loosing the match by a 4 goals to 0.

It was a tough call for the Lankans to get a favorable result in Manila especially in front of a 16000 capacity crowd behind the home team. The tie looked to have been put out of reach of the Lankans by half time when goals by Emelio Caligdong in the 19th minute and Phil Younghusband in the 42nd minute took the “Azkals” in to a 2-0 lead at the break. The Lankans on the other hand did not go down without a fight and created opportunities to score but lacked finishing in the final third.

Philli forward, Angel Guirado who is also half Spanish made an excellent run into the box beating several defenders to score in the 50th minute to make it a goal fest for the home team which left the score at 3-0. The final nail in the coffin for the Lankans and their hopes of progressing came in the 58th minute when Phil Younghusband scored again, this time through a penalty kick to put the result beyond doubt leaving the score at 4-0.

The 4-0 win gave the Philliphines a 5-1 win on aggregate and they now progress to the next round of qualification where they will face Kuwait. The road to the 2014 world cup for Sri Lanka ends here.

The Lankans failed to employ the tactics that they applied so effectively against the Philippines in Colombo and three yellow cards and a fouls did not help either. However it is a commendable achievement for the Lankans to stay undefeated in the first leg at home which shows that the team is capable of competing against much more fancied teams.

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