HOLDER Thailand proved too much for the Philippines and hacked out a 4-0 shutout that severely jeopardized the youthful Azkals’ AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup semifinal bid Monday night in Pathum Thani.
Ace striker Teerasil Dangda delivered a pinpoint header just three minutes in and converted his spot kick in the 41st to give War Elephants a 2-0 cushion in the one-sided Group A match at the Thammasat Stadium.
Mr. Dangda later set up Adisak Kraisorn for their third goal in the 57th before Suphanat Bureerat capped scoring four minutes later to seal maximum points in front of ecstatic home supporters.
With back-to-back wins, the War Elephants grabbed top spot in the group with six points and a goal difference of nine ahead of Indonesia (six points and eight GD), which annihilated Brunei, 7-0, over in Kuala Lumpur.
The new-look Pinoy booters sustained their second loss against a lone win and fell to fourth with three points and -1 GD behind Cambodia’s three points and 0 GD.
The Azkals have one game left in the group stage — against Indonesia on Jan. 2 at the Rizal Memorial Stadium — but their fate is no longer in their hands.
If Indonesia and Thailand battle to a draw in their duel on Thursday in Jakarta, this will eliminate the Azkals from Final Four contention no matter what happens in the final game in Manila.
The crew of Josep Ferre tried to carry the momentum from their 5-1 drubbing of Brunei into the tough away gig in Thailand.
But with AFF all-time top scorer Mr. Dangda in his element, the Filipinos were forced to play on the backfoot from the get-go and couldn’t pose a real threat.
“Going down 1-nil in the opening minutes destroyed everything,” said Philippine skipper Stephan Schrock.
“There were errors made. We knew Thailand would force us to defend very deep and we had to be disciplined. We knew we wouldn’t have a lot of possession in the game. It didn’t work the way we wanted it.” — Olmin Leyba