Sven-Goran Eriksson was pleased with the Philippines’ 1-0 win over Singapore in their 2018 AFF Suzuki Cup Group B clash with Singapore, in his first game as head coach of the Azkals.
The former England manager took the job on short notice and was immediately thrown into the deep end, to lead the Azkals at the 2018 AFF Suzuki Cup.
With less than a month’s training time with the squad, Eriksson managed to seal his first win as Azkals manager in Bacolod.
Speaking to the press after the game, Eriksson felt that his side were the better team and deserved the victory which put them level with Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia on three points.
The Swede was also quick to point out the groundwork that was done by the man he replace, Scott Cooper, and the rest of the Azkals backroom staff.
“These three points are very important for us. I think we deserved it because we were the better team. We created more chances and I’m very happy,” Eriksson said.
“I want to say thank you to the players and a big thank you to the coaches who were here before me because I have been here for one week and I cannot do everything, that’s impossible. The people in charge before me have done a great job and deserve a huge applause.”
While his team had more chances in the first-half, Eriksson explained the decision to bring on James Younghusband in place of Mike Ott, which proved decisive in Patrick Reichelt scoring the winning goal in the 78th minute.
He remarked: “I think when we had chances to cross (in the first half) but there were very few players in the box.
“We wanted another striker to be inside and that is why we changed. Because this was a very physically strong game and we needed a physically stronger player than Ott.”
Another tactical move which puzzled fans when the starting lineup was announced was seeing midfielder Paul Mulders moved into a centre-back role alongside Carli De Murga.
In Philippines’ previous games, Alvaro Silva and Carli De Murga were the first-choice centre-back pairing but Eriksson made known the reason for the switch, which worked out perfectly for the Azkals as Mulders put in a man-of-the-match performance.
“Alvaro Silva was not available for this match, otherwise he would have played but because of passport issues, he wasn’t available,” the Swede added.
“As for Mulders, I saw him train and he did well so it was an easy choice for me. He had a good game today, very, very good game.”
Philippines have four days to prepare for their second Group B match against minnows Timor-Leste. The match is scheduled to take place at the Kuala Lumpur Football Stadium in Cheras, Malaysia, due to the fact that Timor-Leste’s stadium in Dili was not “match-ready”. (Fox Sports Asia)
