Philippines boss Thomas Dooley believes that his side has what it takes to pull of a surprise when the AFF Suzuki Cup kicks off this weekend.
The Azkals have long been regarded as minnows within the region, though they’ve made significant efforts to change that perception over the last few years – especially with what they achieved at the 2014 Suzuki Cup.
But a closer look into Dooley’s current crop of players and their recent results suggest that this could finally be their year, despite the fact that they’ve been paired into a difficult group that also features reigning champions, Thailand.
“I was pleased about our team chemistry in our recent training and our morale is also rising,” Dooley was quoted as saying by Business Times.
The Azkals sealed a morale-boosting 2-1 defeat over Kyrgyzstan back in September, but they went on to suffer two home 1-3 defeats against Bahrain and North Korea. Of course, they were defeats. But Dooley’s men were anything but pushovers in those matches, and even manage to bag a goal in both games.
Last week, they played the Kyrgyz again and defeated them for the second time. But Dooley was far more impressed with the spirit his players displayed on the pitch.
“The performance of the players did not surprise me. As I said before, the team chemistry and the spirit of the team was 80 percent better than it was before,” he told Manila Times.
“We have another two or three sessions left before the start of the tournament. On the training sessions that we will do, we will work on a little bit of set pieces. In general, we need to play our game. We need to have respect with opponent and we need to acknowledge what they did in the last couple of games and months,” he added.
This weekend, Singapore will be their first test, before they face Indonesia on Matchday Two. The more difficult one comes in the form of Thailand, but if the Azkals are able to collect six points from their first two games, they could potentially go into the Thailand bout without severe pressure on their shoulders.
That said, the level of confidence within Dooley’s squad suggests that they’ll probably be confident of beating Thailand, who have been bustling it out with the big boys of Asia in recent months. If they’re able to pull off a win against Thailand, then be prepared to watch odds of them winning the Suzuki Cup get instantly slashed.
Could this finally be Philippines’ year?
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