Azkals crush Macau 5-0

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines crushed Macau with a resounding 5-0 win to put the Azkals a victory away from winning the Philippine Football Peace Cup.

The Azkals only need to draw with Chinese Taipei on Saturday, after the Taiwanese defeated Guam 2-0 in the first match.

At the Rizal Memorial Stadium, the undisputed man of the match was new Global FC striker Denis Wolf, who netted his first international hat-trick for the Philippines, seven months after scoring his last goal against Malaysia.

Wolf shines

Wolf clinched the opener in the 21st minute slotting home a right foot shot past goalkeeeper Man Fai Ho.

However, his partner up front Ian Araneta had a lackluster performance and was replaced after only 37 minutes by defender Jason Sabio.

Heading into halftime and playing as single striker, Wolf doubled the advantage after a goalmouth scramble with skipper Chieffy Caligdong in the 45th minute.

After the break, defender Carli de Murga made it 3-0 for the Philippines in the 49th as Demit Omphroy’s cross found midfielder Marvin Angeles, whose shot was saved by Ho but landed at the feet of De Murga, who scored off the rebound.

Wolf completed his hat-trick in the 64th minute, again thanks to a right flank cross from Omphroy.

Patrick Reichelt, who scored the winner against Guam last Tuesday, completed the 5-0 rout for the Azkals with a volley off a cross from OJ Porteria.

Misagh Bahadoran almost scored the sixth, and Macau also got close to pulling one back in the dying minutes.

Weiss worried about fitness level

Coach Michael Weiss was all praises for striker Wolf and the whole team.

But the German will still have to assess the fitness of his players for Saturday’s final against Chinese Taipei, most notably Sabio, substituted late in the game by Nestorio Margarse, and after playing so many games in a row.

“We will have to see if our fitness level is as I hoped it would be,” noted Weiss. – Rappler.com