After winning over Mongolia Blue Wolves with an aggregate score of 3-2, the Philippine Azkals were able to join the group stage of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Challenge Cup where they will play against Myanmar, Palestine and Bangladesh.
The first game against Myanmar was yesterday, March 21st and fans were totally disappointed when it was not aired live so they had to make do with getting the latest information over Twitter. At least the tweets showed the updates though as Dyan Castillejo tweeted it was kind hard for them too since internet was not working that well. The one thing that was a problem in Mongolia that resulted in having a winter team wear for Azkals was not a problem in Myanmar since we almost have the same weather. The absence of Neil Etheridge was not felt in Myanmar but it certainly made you want to see him in action again.
For a comprehensive report and analysis of the game, please see other sources such as Craig Burrows and Ron Moore's PinoyFootball.com. Their latest foray was in their analysis of the Myanmar - Azkals match:
Other worthy articles include:
Azkals held to draw by late injury time goal by Cedelf P. Tupas
Qualifying for the AFC Challenge Cup w/o winning TWO Games
Match Reactions: Heartbreak in Myanmar
And to make sure you really know what football is and how it is played, and so that it does not become just a fad for you, please get to know more about associated football in these 2 articles from Philippine Azkals Online:
Football (Soccer) 101: The History of Football in Videos
Football (Soccer) 101: The Origins of Football
And for those who insist on making comments on “the-hows” without knowing the real score, take a look at the Laws of the Game at Fifa.com or Download PDF so you can have it handy.