ESBF Five Points: The Maldives Encounter

That's another one for the books. Another chapter closes. Another FIFA World Cup campaign comes to an end. And it truly looks like there are things aplenty to talk about with the Philippines' final 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualifying Second Round bout with Maldives.

If you didn't stay up all night last night, ESBF's here to give you five takeaways from the Philippines vs Maldives match.

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1) Our head-to-head record with Maldives now stands at 3-1-1

We come to this match as, again, the favorites on paper with a 3-1 win-loss record. But it seems that Maldives will have none of it. They neutralized most of our attacks, and managed to slip one goal past our own defense.

We may have demonstrated our ability to make chances with the 11 shots we took. We even had the momentum turned our way with the last part of the match, but it just wasn't enough to turn the tide since Maldives drew level only six minutes after we drew first blood.

To give credit where it's due, Maldives did hold us off with a truly resilient defense. And they gave our defense something to think about.

They put a foot in when it mattered, and it really threw us off.

2) Keeper switch at half time

One of the subjects of discussion was when first choice goalkeeper, Bernd Schipmann, was subbed off in favor of Kevin Ray Hansen along with a slew of other changes. And it did work to good effect as the changes employed by the gaffer have stabilized our backlines.

GK subs normally happen because of 2 things: injury, or poor performance. It is very rare that a GK gets swapped for tactical reasons. And looks like there might be something else behind it.

I don't think the goal was completely the keeper's fault alone, but that's just me. The Maldives player did get around our defense before setting himself up for the goal. But we also know that other Azkals keepers have saved those kind of shots in the past time and again.

For now, we can leave it as it is. We're not too sure as to how this would unfold in the future. But one thing is for sure, this move will bring up some questions.

3) The important passes have been dreadful

We've started to play the ball on the ground. Comparing it to us hoofing the ball beyond midfield, this is definitely the better way to play. It also highlights our ability to find those key passes that would tear down the opposition's defense.

But while we have the vision to see our teammates and their runs, we haven't been all that accurate when it comes to execution. Sure the stats puts our pass accuracy at 86%, but it's the key passes that really needed to count. And unfortunately for us, looks like it didn't.

Right now, I believe one of the reasons why we struggle scoring has something to do with our passing. More often than not, the ball finds our forwards in difficult or disadvantageous positions.

Which leads us to our next takeaway.

4) Our woes in front of goal

While we did manage to nick one in, we have been wasteful with the rest of the other chances we got. We've been lacking these two elements: a good final pass and a good finishing touch.

And if you'd been following us around, you'd notice that we've mentioned this on previous articles too. We really need to step up our game in the final third. And what better way to show an example than with this match's final minutes.

In the last 15 minutes of the game, we looked to have changed gears as we dominated the possession near the dying minutes. We were almost camping in the opponent's half. Yet despite this, we still can't find that breakthrough goal.

We've been knocking on their doors, hoping that the floodgates would open. Yet by the end of the final whistle, it was Maldives who kept the door shut.

It was action packed, yes. And we loved every moment of it. But the fact remains that Maldives was supposed to be a good chance for us to finish strong. I guess that ain't gonna happen.

5) We have work to do

Well here we are. At the end of the day, we got the job done. We're moving on to the next round. The third round of qualifying for the 2023 Asian Cup. The road to Asia is long, and it definitely is hard. But in football, we all know that the ball is round. And that anyone at the bottom can always roll forward and end on top.

That's why we have work to do. The boys have definitely shown that they have the individual skill to take the ball and make magic with it. But football is a game played by 11 men a side. We can build the strongest ever lineup by calling up players who have shown quality. But it'll only do so much.

We still need the lads to build their chemistry. We need them to understand how the other teammate moves. Where does he need the ball, how far can he reach. We need them to gel as a cohesive unit together.

Pulling your own weight with your own strength won't do anymore. We're way beyond that level. The next step forward is to take all of these talents, and find a way to make them complement each other on and off the pitch.

For now, I congratulate our Philippine Azkals, the shining light of the Philippine Football community. You earned this new opportunity.

And we certainly hope we make it all the way this time around.

Laban Pilipinas!

See you on the touchline.