MABUHAY PILIPINAS AZKALS!

What a big turn around for the Philippine Azkals national team in a span of five days. After playing their worst form in recent months during the first leg of their World Cup qualifiers against Sri Lanka in Colombo last Wednesday, the Nationals finally displayed their full potential and their very best game since surprising Vietnam in the AFF Suzuki Cup last December as they blasted the Sri Lankans, 4-0, before a sell-out crowd of 15,000 at the fabled Rizal Memorial Football Stadium. Not even a heavy downpour of afternoon rains can stop the Azkals in completing a 5-1 aggregate score in their 2-leg series. Chieffy Caligdong, the proud son of Barotac Nuevo, opened up the scoring for the Azkals with an amazing goal in the 19^th minute. This was followed up by a controversial goal by striker Phil Younghusband in the 42^nd minute that gave the Nationals a 2-0 lead at halftime. Another Azkals frontliner, striker Angel Guirado scored on a beautiful breakaway goal in the 50^th minute to put the Nationals into a insurmountable 3-0 advantage and finally, Younghusband made it 4-0 on a penalty shot, brought about by a Sri Lanka dangerous tackle on midfielder Stephan Schrock, in the 56^th minute. The Azkals totally dominated the ball possession throughout the match with precise attacking game, which was sorely missing in the first leg. With the win, the Azkals now advanced to the next round against powerful Kuwait on July 23 and 28.