Azkals see some openings vs Indonesia despite falling short to Vietnam

The Philippine Azkals are staying positive about their chances ahead of their face-off against Indonesia in the 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers.

The national men's football team fell short, 2-0, to Vietnam on November 16 and for head coach Michael Weiss, the Azkals still had a satisfactory performance.

"I think considering the pressure and the chances that we had in the second half, I thought maybe a draw would have been a fair result," Weiss said in a post-match conference after.

"Nevertheless, I am very, very satisfied with the performance. I think we can hold our heads high. We left everything on the pitch," he added.

Going against Indonesia, however, Weiss is seeing more openings for the national team.

"I think the Indonesia match will probably be a little bit more of an open match where we can risk a little more," Weiss said as he factored in their opponent's travel time from the Middle East after their match against Iraq and the result of the said match.

Indonesia lost to Iraq, 5-1, also last Thursday.

While this is the case, the team said they will still give everything once they stand on the pitch on Tuesday.

"We might have small favors, but we shouldn’t also be too safe about it," Weiss said.

"At the end of the day, what is important is, Neil Etheridge said that before we went out of the pitch, no matter what the result, you have to give [it your] all and the people need to be sure that the team left everything on the ground and I think we did that."

The match against Indonesia will be played on Tuesday, 7 p.m., at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.

—JMB, GMA Integrated News