MANILA - After their opening loss against Syria in Panaad, the Azkals redeemed themselves and clinched their first win in World Cup Qualifiers at the expense of Guam, 4-1 on Tuesday at the Guam FA Training Center.
Angel Guirado opened the scoring for the Philippines as he headed in the ball in the 6th minute, while Patrick Reichelt successfully broke the defense of Guam as he freed himself and easily converted it to balloon their lead into 2-0 at the 12th minute.
Before the first half ended, the Guam created quality offensive chances as the home team looked to win this match from their bitter loss against Maldives last Thursday, but they were unsuccessful.
The missed chances continued until in the 67th minute, Carli De Murga was called for a foul inside the penalty box after he pushed Travis Nicklaw.
Marcus Lopez finally got one for Guam with his easy goal in the penalty as they cut their deficit into one, 2-1.
But the Azkals' captain ball, Stephan Shrock, fired a long shot, making the keeper missed the cue to take back their lead to two, 3-1, at 71st minute.
Patrick Strauss recorded his first international goal in an Azkals uniform as he clinically finished a feed from Mark Hartmann in the 81st minute.
Youngsters Yrick Gallantes and Justin Baas were fielded in at the first 11, but Gallantes was suddenly replaced by Javier Patiño in the 36th minute and Baas was substituted by Daisuke Sato after sustaining an injury in the 58th minute.
The Azkals would bring 3 points in their standing to finish the first window of the Asian Qualifiers and will face China PR on October 15 in Bacolod.
This is first win for Azkals head coach Scott Cooper since he took the responsibility as head tactician after Asian Cup stint.
Follow him on Twitter: @GilMoriones
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