By Kevin Estrada
MANILA — The Philippines shared the honors with Indonesia in a 1-1 draw to cap off their World Cup qualifying home stand at the Rizal Memorial Stadium last Tuesday evening.
An aggressive showing by the HOME SIDE rattled Indonesia early on in the match, in which forward Patrick Reichelt sent most of the 9,880-strong crowd rocking on their feet as he put the Filipinos ahead in the 23rd minute.
The KL City man received a piercing through-ball by Kevin Ingreso and wasted no time to chip the ball past Ernando Ari with his left foot, notching his fifteenth international goal on his 81st cap.
Neil Etheridge and his backline then held their fort to preserve their halftime lead, which was the first time the Azkals did so in a World Cup qualifier since 2011.
However, those missed chances to double their lead in the first half came to haunt the home side, in which Shin Tae-yong’s men struck the 70th-minute equalizer.
Ricky Kambuaya’s last action before being substituted produced an assist to Saddil Ramdani who fired a left-footed strike to the top left corner that left Etheridge rooted to his spot.
Santi Rublico came within inches of becoming an Azkals hero deep into stoppage time, but his effort was denied by the crossbar as they split the points at full-time.
PHILIPPINES: Etheridge (GK) ©, Curran (Bugas 76’ (Villanueva 90+5’)), Tabinas, Ingreso (Baas 76’), Mike Ott (Marañon 64’), Manny Ott (Rontini 90+5’), Porteria, Sato, De Murga, Reichelt, Rublico
INDONESIA: Ernando Ari (GK), Baggott, Jordi Amat (90+3′), Ramadhani, Walsh (Witan Sulaiman 31’), Struick (Caraka 90+3′), Irianto, Asnawi Bahar ©, Kambuaya (Sananta 71’), Ramdani, Pattynama (Pratama Arhan 46’)
Photo credit: Paula Andrea Marie Puri
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