MANILA, Philippines - Fil-Danish Jerry Lucena is set to rejoin the Azkals and add maturity and stability in the midfield, something that was glaringly missing, especially in the first half, in the Philippines’ scoreless draw with Singapore in the first leg of the AFF Suzuki Cup semifinal leg 1 in Manila last Saturday.
Photos from philstar.com
Lucena, absent in the Azkals’ historic home game at Rizal Memorial due to club commitment, meets up with his teammates today in Singapore, giving him enough time to shake off jet lag and link up with the rest of the Azkals in time for Wednesday night’s second leg at Jalan Besar Stadium.
“Having Jerry Lucena in the second leg will definitely give us more proposition in midfield and build ‘kalma’ (calm) in buildup time,” said Azkals coach Michael Weiss.
Without Lucena, the Azkals’ midfield was largely in disarray against the visiting Lions, particularly in the first 45 minutes, where the home team fumbled on possessions and got lucky the Lions didn’t hit the target in spite of numerous chances.
“Our midfield in the first half was weak, to be honest,” said Weiss, who made an adjustment at the interval, sending in Marwin Angeles in place of Jason de Jong, to try to change the complexion of the match and create offensive chances.
“If the midfield doesn’t show up and distribute balls very well, you end up with loose balls and you end up playing defensively with no time to create chances,” he added.
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