Sorry for the late post. I had a busy weekend. So, I’m also adding the match preview of the Yemen game.

The Azkals have beaten the Middle Eastern men last Thursday, a match that few foreign pundits gave us little chance in.

I was there personally at the match, and I’m still hoarse. I’ve never yelled so loud in my life.

Azkals 2-1 Bahrain: Analysis:

The Azkals played a formation like this as their starting XI:

It was completely different from the formation I predicted pre-match (see previous article).

The formation seems a bit foolhardy on paper, as only Gier was a natural centerback in this formation, but it did hold up excellently against Bahrain.

When the Azkals were on the attack, the formation looked something like this:

Palla, as a sweeper, would move into midfield, while Gier pushed into centerback.

Sato would overlap on the left to give the Azkals space and numerical superiority, Phil Younghusband pulled into midfield alongside Schrock to help Lucena and Ott to retain possession, while Patino forged into the box as the striker.

Notice Phil Younghusband’s new role.

He is more like an attacking midfielder instead of his regular striker or withdrawn striker (“number 10”) role.

When we were defending, we looked more like this:

A sort of 5-4-1 formation, with Lucena and Palla tracking back to centerback, Ott and Sato moving to wingback, Steuble and Ramsay pushing into the midfield to try and pressure Bahrain into giving back possession, and Schrock and Patino up there to exploit the counterattack, with Schrock roaming dangerously.

But the most shocking thing is: Phil Younghusband is playing defensive midfield.

Seems like Dooley is experimenting with PYH playing in Wayne Rooney’s position under Louis Van Gaal at Manchester United.

A player that does his share of defending and attacking, a position that Phil excelled at last Thursday.

Bahrain were unable to track his runs, as he marauded all over the pitch, sending dangerous balls to both flanks.

But the Azkals took a severe blow a half-hour into the game: our danger man, Stephan Schrock, took an injury.

Dooley replaced him with Misagh Bahadoran, who is a completely different type of player than Schrock.

But Dooley played Bahadoran in Schrock’s role, and “Lord” Misagh played so unlike himself just a year ago.

The old Misagh Bahadoran was a ball-hogger who couldn’t pass and couldn’t shoot.

Misagh 2.0 still had his old skills on the ball, but he played well, playing for the team.

And he made that dangerous run that PYH picked out.

Phil crossed, and Bahadoran lunged at the ball to score his first goal in four years with the Azkals.

Javier Patino was another player who made a difference.

The Henan Jianye striker showed what the Azkals had missed during the last year, with his runs that the playmakers liked to pick out.

He should’ve scored early on when he broke free, but his shot was saved by Jaffer, the Bahrain stopper.

Patino managed to score, though, finishing clinically from Manny Ott’s set-piece.

We had some worries though, after Palla came off with cramps.

In his place came Juani Guirado.

Bahrain piled some late pressure, and got a goal back, when Abdulwahab Al Malood shook off Juani Guirado quite easily, rounded Neil Etheridge, and =slotted home, but this proved to be nothing but a consolation, as we scored a historic win.

Azkals vs Yemen: Match Preview:

The Azkals take on Yemen tomorrow night.

Kickoff is live on ABS-CBN Sports+Action at 11:55 PM Philippine time, so whatever your commitments on Wednesday are, I hope you’ll watch this game anyway.

And if any Pinoys in Doha are reading this article, please come out and watch them at the Qatar Sports Club.

Down to business, then.

The Azkals lined up in a 3-5-2 against Bahrain (see above), but I think Dooley will have to tinker with his tactics again, after we lost Schrock, who will be out for at least two weeks.

I think we’ll line up like this:

With no Schrock, Steuble can be moved into the middle, meaning Bahadoran moves into Steuble’s old position on the right,

and Phil plays behind Patino, occasionally dropping deep to reinforce the midfield.

Yemen, though, will be hard to break down, though they are the lowest-ranked team in the group.

DPR Korea played them and only won 1-0.

They’ve nothing to lose, with a civil war being fought in their country.

We should NEVER underestimate them.

That’s how we revived as a football nation.

Good luck Philippines, and SUGOD AZKALS!