 |
| Both coaches (in the background) think that their teams are not yet ready to win against each other. |
MANILA -- Thomas Dooley and Ong Kim Swee oversee their sides to another stalemate last night at the Rizal Memorial, the fifth consecutive time it had happen for both the Azkals and Harimau Malaysia in the past five years.
Both coaches took their time addressing to the football press after the match, in which they gave their own views after the game.
For the former Malaysia U23 manager, he thinks that the friendly had served its purpose, considering that this was their only match for March.
"I believe that it has served the purpose for us, especially to them [Azkals], where they gonna play against Nepal," Ong said, added that the result is just fair and the home side are more keen to play more serious football on Tuesday when they play with the south Asian side in their first Asian Cup qualifier.
"I believe that it has served the purpose for us, especially to them [Azkals], where they gonna play against Nepal," Ong said, added that the result is just fair and the home side are more keen to play more serious football on Tuesday when they play with the south Asian side in their first Asian Cup qualifier.
With future hanging in the balance owing to the FAM elections on the weekend, he was asked by Dugout Philippines about what was the difference between this and their draw in Cebu in 2014.
"I don't know. Maybe there's a curse on Philippines and Malaysia, where we drew with three times with the same [0-0] result, but I said, it's an equal game. Both sides have their chances, but definitely finishing is one thing we would looked like," he added.
For the American tactician, he admit that it's not the right time to defeat the visitors for the first time since 1991, as he rues the lack of finishing that haunted them in the friendly, despite taking care of the ball very well.
"We need to score goals to win games," Dooley summarizes their game, in which they came close to score but the end result were far from ideal.
He alsi reiterated that the Nepal game on Tuesday is more important, and stresses that these friendlies are not called as such when they face another national team.
"I told my players, we don't have friendly games. It's all about if you get a good result, you get more people taking interest in football. We don't play chess, its football," Dooley concluded.
.JPG)
.jpg)
