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MANILA, Philippines – Philippine Football Federation (PFF) president Mariano Araneta said that he expects no less than a win from the Azkals for their first AFF Suzuki Cup semifinals meeting with Thailand at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium on Saturday, December 6.
“I expect them to win on Saturday.” Araneta confidently expressed in an interview after the awards night gala of the Asian Football Confederation in Makati last Sunday.
Araneta, however, reiterated about the chances of the national football team to win the first leg of their two-meeting semi-finals bout in the competition.
“Well, of course [there’s a] 50-50 [win-lose chance].”
“The ball is round but I think with proper motivation for our players, they can bounce back from the defeat against Vietnam and win this game for the Filipinos on Saturday.”
The Azkals had a promising run in the group stage of the competition routing two consecutive opponents Laos, 4-1, and Indonesia, 4-0, before finally bowing to hosts Vietnam, 3-1, to drop to the second place of Group A.
Meanwhile, the scheduled games of the Philippine booters against the War Elephants will not be an easy task as the Thais have emerged from the Group B with an unblemished 3-0 win-lose record.
The Azkals will be on the prowl to clinch their first ever win against the Thais since 1972, dating back 14 games according to the AFF website.
The two squads are scheduled to meet for two games in the semis of the cup in a home-and-away format and the winner with the higher score on aggregate after the two legs will advance to the final.
Consequently, Azkals team manager Dan Palami, has called out for the support of the “12th man” for the upcoming home game of the team on his Twitter account.
“We badly need our 12th man on Dec 6! Football fans, let’s rally behind the BIG flag, with drums and chants, cheering the AZKALS on!”
He also requested the fans to wear a uniform color as support to the national football squad.
“WHITE. Let’s wear white on Dec 6. Let us paint Rizal Memorial Stadium with our WHITE shirts! Sugod Pilipinas! #SugodAzkals”
The PFF set bleacher seat ticket prices from P100 to P300 while grandstand seats range from P500, P1000, and P2000.
Tickets are available at TicketWorld outlets nationwide but the PFF stressed that “tickets are reservation tickets only and need to be exchanged for actual game tickets beginning 9:00 a.m. on match day, 06 December 2014, at the designated Ticket Booths in front of the grandstand entrance of the Rizal Memorial Stadium.”
Tickets will also be sold on-site at RMFS during the match date starting 9:00 a.m. – Rappler.com
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