Tito's Five Takeaways: Slim victory against Mongolia

Photo credits: AFC

They just have to leave it late, don't they? As we went through a rollercoaster of emotions, the Philippine Azkals won against Mongolia in the final minute of stoppage time thanks to a miraculous effort from our new main man Gerrit Holtmann and now we have to give everything in our next match against Palestine.

It was a tough 93 minutes as the hosts tried to hang on for a precious point but the resilience of the Azkals and the fear of not having a chance for the AFC Asian Cup 2023 ticket gave them the boost to finish off strong and take home all three points.

There were a lot of things to talk about but here's what your lovely tito (For others, papa :) ) wants you all to focus on. Let's go to Tito's Five Takeaways from that nail-biting match against Mongolia.

1) Can't convert, can we?

Amassing a total of 23 shots on goal versus Mongolia's 10, the Azkals were expected to open the floodgates and score at least two goals against the lower-ranked host nation. However, despite having a lot of chances of goal, including a missed penalty from Patrick Reichelt (which we'll talk about later), the Azkals only managed to score one.

And they needed to wait for VfL Bochum's striker and the Azkals' newest sensation Gerrit Holtmann to take matters to his own feet and score a magnificent last-minute goal that gave the Philippines a much-needed boost against Palestine in their final qualifying match.

The Azkals also managed the possession pretty well to give them those goal-scoring opportunities as they garnered 65% of the ball possession. Not to discredit Mongolia's effort, their backline and even their goalkeeper matched each and every move of the Philippines until that late strike from Holtmann.

Despite all these, one of the few positive things we can pick up from this match and the previous draw against Yemen was that there's already a system in place. A system that could work for the squad if they persevere in learning the system and applying it in each and every game.

Also, we're in desperate need of a legitimate striker upfront who can just bang in the goals from us. We already have our midfield kind of sorted out with Mike Ott, Sandro Reyes, Oskari Kekkonen manning the center of the park. A good incisive pass can easily free up our strikers. Yes, we have Bienvenido Marañon, OJ Porteria, and even Mark Hartmann, but their style of play should adjust as well to how the midfield is playing.

Bienve is more of a poacher and a player who knows how to position himself well inside the box which we will need for rebounds and second chances, OJ Porteria is still the speedy and flashy striker that we know of who can break the defensive line, and Mark Hartmann can just fire from distance. Hopefully, they'll break loose from the shackles and will just throw everything against Palestine to book our place in the 2023 AFC Asian Cup.

2) Midfielder's parade should be a delight

Photo credits: AFC

A few years ago, the Philippines were boasting quality goalkeepers like Neil Etheridge, Patrick Deyto, Ed Sacapaño, Ref Cuaresma, and many others. This was a sign that the Philippines knew how to hone their shot-stoppers and it worked wonders for us in the past.

Fast forward to 2022, the Azkals are spoilt for choices of the people they can use in midfield which means a brighter future for the Philippines in this fast-improving environment of Asian football.

In this day and age, midfielders are now the new superstars of the game. Take a look at the likes of Toni Kroos of Real Madrid, N'Golo Kante of Chelsea, Sergio Busquets of FC Barcelona, and many more.

Now, with the Philippines having a lot of creative midfielders, it helps our cause a bit more considering that we may be missing a lethal striker, those midfielders can also step up.

In their match against Mongolia, Sandro Reyes had a fantastic game, dribbling past the opponents and providing composure to the offense in times of confusion and uncertainty.

Oskari Kekkonen was the much-needed outlet for those stray passes while Mike Ott's role at the tip of that midfielder trio provides a lethal option even from the middle of the park.

In the next coming matches of the Azkals, even way past the Asian Cup qualifiers, should they be able to utilize their squad as good as what they've done recently, we may just find ourselves back at the top of Southeast Asia.

3) Let's Gerrit On

Photo credits: AFC

Being rated with 94 for pace in the video game FIFA 22, VfL Bochum's Gerrit Holtmann showed us a glimpse of this pace against Mongolia. Even dropping back in midfield, Holtmann made crazy runs from the wings and into the middle for goalscoring opportunities. However, there were times that Holtmann gets a bit frustrated due to the lack of options provided for him.

This can be a case of him lacking that cohesiveness with the squad but as the time progresses, the Azkals should be able to build the play around him and the other forwards he'll be paired up with.

If Dooley would formulate a formation that would fit Holtmann's playing style, it would be the 4-3-3 formation with Gerrit playing left-wing joined by Bienve in the middle and Reichelt on the right.

Letting him roam up front as well as a lone striker in a 4-3-2-1 formation can exploit the open spaces for him and his teammates given his dribbling skills and explosive power on the strike.

4) A bad day doesn't mean the end for Kiki

After being called upon to take the penalty against Mongolia, Patrick Reichelt carried the weight of the country over his shoulders as he took the stage but either the pressure got to him or it wasn't just his day.

Though he missed the penalty, Kiki has been phenomenal since 2018 for the national team and has continued his run of form this year. While firing blanks, Reichelt is always there to recover the 50-50 balls and provide the outlet for his teammates.

His exploits in his favored right-wing position have been giving acres of space in the middle for his mates to utilize and if they can figure this out in their upcoming match against Palestine, we should be in for a cracking match and one that could send us back to the pinnacle of Asian Football, the AFC Asian Cup.

5) Filipino Toxicity at its best

We, Filipinos are known to be real sports lovers and are very critical of the teams we support. Oftentimes, even the national squads cannot escape harsh criticisms from their fans. However, criticism is different from just mere bashing without any context or substance.

Including this writer and this publication, we are known to be staunch supporters and sometimes, even the harshest critics of the Azkals or even Philippine Football in general. We do this not because we don't have anything to do or we just hate the system itself but because we want the system and the quality of the sport to improve so that more Filipinos will watch and support football.

During the broadcast of the match against Mongolia, I noticed plenty of supporters who were bashing the squad and calling them names, even being hugely negative towards the result of the match despite the win.

It's one thing that we notice these kinds of comment but it really is getting out of hand. Yes, there's a need to be critical of the squads' performance but not to the point that we degrade them as if they haven't done anything for the team.

Keep in mind that we are still in the pandemic and moving players around, let alone asking them to play for the team during these trying times could be very difficult for both the players and the organization.

While we criticize the team, make sure we look at certain figures first before we let our comments out. Not saying that we have to shut up and just watch but we have to make sure that what we're throwing at them is something they can work on moving forward.

Mga Kababayan, we have one more game. Let's give our all-out support to the Philippine Men's National Football Team in their bid for another trip to the AFC Asian Cup. A chance for the Philippines to get back to where we belong and where we should be every time.

The Philippines will take on Palestine on the 14th of June, 2022 12:30 PM Philippine time. A chance to write another history for the country, and a chance to show the continent what we got. Sugod Azkals!