UZBEK U23 fed sand to AZKALS

Picture taken from: http://www.esportsinfo.com

The Uzbekistan U23 White Wolves devoured the Philippine Azkals with a score of 3-0 at Al Maktoum Stadium Al Nasr Sports Club in Dubai last night.


The game started with the new roster of players put into test. Denis Wolf and Juan Luis Guirado were both good additions to Azkal's defense. Carli de Murga and Lexton Moy were both active as well in the midfield while Ruben Doctora, coming from the Stallion Gilligans, either wasn't given any good ball pass or simply hasn't gelled well with the team.

Roland Muller saved a fantastic 7 out of 10 direct goal attempts. Another noteworthy save  was done by Jason Sabio when Roland was down from a previous goal kick.

Viewers have noticed repetitive problem in defense. Most of the time, Muller is left alone in the goal while the rest of the Azkals are in the other side of court. Same thing happens for the offense.

Miscommunication has also been a problem. There was an incident where all 3 defenders where standing infront of the post when Uzbek U23's Kenja Turaev simply kicked the ball and scored a goal. Another example was with de Jong passing a ball to P.Younghusband without the ball noticing that it's on its way to him and the ball went out of the court giving ball possession to the opponent.

Coach Weiss used the 4-4-3 formation STRIKERS-MIDDLEFIELD-DEFENSE. A  formation that will be used by FC Barcelona against CA OSASUNA this February 12. I believe the coach should concentrate more where the players should stay in the court. It seems like everyone would like to be strikers. Below are the list of players who played the game.

Goal Keeper:
Roland Muller

DEFENSE:
Denis Wolf
Jason Sabio
Juan Luis Guirado

MIDFIELDERS:
James Younghusband
Angel Guirado
Lexton Moy
Carli de Murga
Jason de Jong

STRIKERS:
Ian Araneta
Misagh Bahadoran
Ruben Doctora

As you can notice, we have 3 strikers who where there - Ian, Misagh and Ruben. They should be the ones always driving the ball in the opponent's court. But what did you see in the game? You see Juan Luis Guirado at the right side of the oppenent's court near the goal, while Angel Guirado is at the center of the striker's lane ready for heading a ball. Also, a lot of times Phil coming from the middlefield running directly to the goal without passing to any of his teammates.

I believe that positions in soccer were made to make the players' life easier in terms of passing the ball and so that they will be followed accordingly.

Here's how the Uzbek U23 players scored:

12 " - Kenja Turaev
30 " - Ivan Nagaev
65 " - Kenja Turaev


The Azkals will meet their next opponent Al Ahli Sports Club a Qatari multi-sport club based in Doha on Feb 13 in their home stadium - Al Ahli Stadium.

The Philippine delegation will fly back to Dubai for their last friendly on February 15 battling Australia's U23.