Philippine coach feels regretful: ‘I should have won against the Vietnamese team, I’m very sad’

Philippine team coach ‘tears’

The Philippine team was unable to secure a victory at home against the Vietnamese team. Coach Albert Capellas’ students took the lead in the 68th minute thanks to Gayoso, but the Vietnamese team’s persistent efforts resulted in an equalizer in the 90+7 minute.

While Vietnam still maintains its unbeaten streak and top position (7 points), the Philippines missed the opportunity to climb to second place. The team nicknamed “The Azkals” is only ranked fourth with 3 points and a difference of 0 in Group B AFF Cup 2024.

Coach Capellas shared: “I’m very sad for the players. We should have earned more points, compared to what we got in the past 3 matches. I know that clearly, because I understand the players have how much effort you put in on the field.”

The Philippine team drew all three matches with a score of 1-1 against Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam. In the match against Vietnam, the loss came to the Philippines in the last seconds.

Coach Capellas regretted that the Philippine team could have defeated Vietnam. “The match against the Vietnamese team was balanced and we could have won. But in the end, that didn’t happen. This is also a lesson for us. 3 points were very close, but we lost. take it away”.

The Philippine team will go straight to the airport to go to Indonesia. In the final competition, Mr. Capellas and his team will enter a life-and-death match with Indonesia at Manahan Stadium. To get a ticket to the next round, the Philippines must win against Indonesia in the final match and hope Myanmar loses to Vietnam.

“We will go straight to the airport. Tonight will probably be a sleepless night for the Philippine team. I only have 2 days to prepare and the whole team has to travel a lot.

While I only had 1 day of instruction on the field, the players were already exhausted. After that, the team played the most important match against Indonesia, the Philippines team had a break of up to 5 days before that. I don’t understand why it’s like that,” Coach Capellas said sadly.