THE Philippine Azkals further dimmed their chances of claiming a berth to the World Cup when they got waylaid by Uzbekistan, 0-1 last Maundy Thursday in the second round of the World Cup Qualifying tournament in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
The Azkals were already at the mercy of their enemies just 10 minutes into the match when OJ Porteria was ejected after obtaining a red card reducing the hard fighting underdogs to just 10 players.
Anzur Ismailov gave the hosts the winning goal when he converted on a header in the 59th minute. Before that, Azkals’ goal keeper Neil Etheridge played his A-game in blocking several attempts by the offense-minded Uzbeks.
Aside from losing one man in the field, the Azkals were also badly undermanned when key players Phil Younghusband and Stephan Schrock suffered injuries while midfielders Misagh Bahadoran and Manny Ott were serving suspensions.
Uzbekistan also beat the Azkals last October in their first encounter, 5-1, at the Philippine Sports Stadium in Bocaue, Bulacan.
The Azkals’ previous match in the World Cup Qualifiers was a tough 0-1 loss to Yemen, at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Metro Manila and a scoreless draw against powerhouse North Korea in Pyongyang.
They need to place fourth from the eight groups seeing action in the tournament to reach the third round of the Asian Cup Qualifiers. Otherwise, they will be relegated to a playoff for the remaining eighth slot.
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