2010 AFF Suzuki Cup Vietnam (ph tops group!)

**baludoy** · December 6th, 2010 01:55 AM

tonight, we made history by defeating the defending champs in their own turf, 2-0!

it was a classic nerve wracking defensive win w/c humbled the vietnamese hosts in a tournament where nobody foresaw us topping our tough group!

PHL football team makes history, stuns Vietnam in Suzuki Cup

The Philippines stunned defending champion Vietnam, 2-0, in their Group B match on Sunday in the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Chris Greatwich and Phil Younghusband struck for the Philippines as the underdog squad earned an all-important three points and endangered the hosts’ title-defense bid in the Southeast Asian region’s equivalent of the Asian Football Cup.

The 27-year-old Filipino-British Greatwich scored in the 38th minute, his shot silencing 40,000 Vietnamese fans that watched the match at the My Dinh National Stadium.

Disciplined defense by the Filipinos thwarted the hosts' offensive thrusts, and the Philippines took a 1-0 halftime lead

Stung, the Vietnamese mounted furious attacks early in the second half, leading to several scoring chances, but PHL goalie Neil Etheridge proved stalwart in snuffing all attempts by the increasingly desperate hosts.

After a miscue by the Vietnamese goalie, forward Ian Araneta had a sorry miss at an undefended goal in one of PHL's few but effective counter-attacks.

It was Younghusband who added an insurance goal in the 79th minute to finally silence the boisterous home crowd that had continuously cheered their squad on to score an equalizer.

Younghusband shook off his defender and faked the Vietnamese goalie before calmly flicking the ball to the back of the net.

The win by the 151st-ranked Philippines against Vietnam, 13 notches higher in the FIFA world rankings, was the biggest upset in the tournament, and perhaps even in the history Southeast Asian football.

The AFF Suzuki Cup is a biennial football competition organized by the ASEAN Football Federation and contested by the national teams of Southeast Asia.

The Philippines is only a qualifier, yet its earlier unexpected draw against Singapore followed by the shocking win over defending champion Vietnam gives it four points to install it atop Group B.

PHL next goes up against Myanmar, which suffered a 1-2 loss to Singapore in an earlier match after it had led 1-0.

The AFF Suzuki Cup is a biennial football competition organized by the ASEAN Football Federation and contested by the national teams of Southeast Asia.

The Philippines is only a qualifier, yet defeated defending champion Vietnam and now sits atop Group B. - Jon Perez/KY/RCJ/HS, GMANews.TV
Tigercub is online now Reply With Quote

i hope this historic campaign will open our eyes that there's more to sports than basketball, boxing, and billiards! if an underfunded team like the azkals can go a long way in a premiere tournament like this, you can just imagine if it was given the financial and logistical support the smart gilas basketball team has been enjoying all these years.

time to buy another national team jersey!

go philippines!

**DonCamote** · December 6th, 2010 11:44 AM

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/st...global&cc=5901

It's indeed a historic win. Stunning the home town crowd of 40,000 supporters.

The Philippine football team were perennially the whipping boys of football. The rest of Asean team were just betting on how many goals can they score against Philippines before. Now, they just might make it to the Semis and who knows what can happen.

Congratulations to the Philippine Football Team :clap1:

**CVT** · December 6th, 2010 01:06 PM

Go Philippine Football!

Government and Public support are needed to up the ante in this sport, where we can be very competitive and be world-class.....

11.5K:cheers2:

**baludoy** · December 6th, 2010 01:37 PM

to na iyong mga highlights ng match kagabi: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3j9WILj39Q"]YouTube - AFF Suzuki Cup 2010 Group B Philippines vs Vietnam[/ame]

mantakin niyo, they had 40,000 supporters watching the game live and we still beat them fair and square. iyon nga lang galit ang ibang fans ng opponents natin kasi boring daw iyong laro - too much emphasis on defense daw

**Cult Zero** · December 6th, 2010 01:59 PM

Congrats Azkals!

A win is a win but we have a long way to go before we can consistently be competitive with our asian counterparts. We were very fortunate the we were able to convert the limited scoring opportunities last night. The second half seemed like an eternity. There were a lot anxious moments especially when Vietnam was on the attack good this our defense held up.

That said I hope we can continue our impressive run in the Suzuki Cup. Go team Philippines!

I agree with what the other poster said. It's time we shift our focus from basketball to football...

**Cult Zero** · December 6th, 2010 02:02 PM

Originally Posted by baludoy

mantakin niyo, they had 40,000 supporters watching the game live and we still beat them fair and square. iyon nga lang galit ang ibang fans ng opponents natin kasi boring daw iyong laro - too much emphasis on defense daw

pinaka galit yun coach nila. hindi raw football ang tawag sa laro natin. hindi matanggap ang pagkatalo since sila ang defending champions and na vietnam pa ginaga ang laro.

**DonCamote** · December 6th, 2010 03:01 PM

I watched the match from "Lupang Hinirang" to the final whistle. I must admit, I never expected PHL to win thinking this could be at best 3-0 in favor of Vietnam. Even when PHL scored before half time, I was thinking "babalik ang Vietnam sa 2nd half". But when the second goal came in with less than 15 minutes to go, that's when I started to get really excited and thought "what draw, posible manalo!". I was looking at the clock "ang bagal naman ng oras".

The Vietnamese manager was sour graping when he said that PHL put up a bus in front of the goal

. I guess that should be taken as a compliment (even if he does not intend it to be so). Vietnam was attacking all over the place like the TET offensive but the Azkals were just impenetrable. There must have been more than 20 chances for the Vietnamese but they never converted because of the solid defence. I guess the Viets were so obsessed with scoring that they forget their own court to protect which lead to 3 chances converting the 2 goals.

Basketball - agree we should divert our attention to other sports such as football instead of this basketball that is suitable for the tall races. When can we let go of this national obsession of basketball? Now is a good time.

**baludoy** · December 6th, 2010 09:56 PM

vietnam's coach refusing to shake the hand of coach simon mcmenemy of the ph after the breakthrough match of the azkals last night

**credits of the pic go to the owner

**mazzipino** · December 6th, 2010 10:17 PM

Originally Posted by baludoy

vietnam's coach refusing to shake the hand of coach simon mcmenemy of the ph after the breakthrough match of the azkals last night

**credits of the pic go to the owner

What a sore loser.

Absolutely amazed to see some football news on local TV. That's the only bit of footy news on TV since the World Cup Octopus (and that was mainly about the Octopus!).

Football FTW!!

**DonCamote** · December 7th, 2010 11:28 AM

Originally Posted by baludoy

vietnam's coach refusing to shake the hand of coach simon mcmenemy of the ph after the breakthrough match of the azkals last night

**credits of the pic go to the owner

Pikon si Viet coach

Forget the sore loser and read what the rest of the coaches have to say...

Coaches laud stunning Filipino win

http://www.affsuzukicup.com/_webapp_...g_Filipino_win