JAKARTA (4 Nov 2011) – The Philippines might have lost to Vietnam last night but there was no doubt who was the star of the show – and he is none other than custodian Roland Muller.
The Germany-based Muller, made a string of excellent saves including several point blank shots and one-to-one situations against Vietnam captain Pham Thanh Luong, to deny their opponent more than the 3-1 win they conceded in the opening match of Group B.
And while there were concerns at the start of the tie that Muller (pix) might not be able to fill in the shoes of Neil Etheride, the 20-year-old proved that he can only get better as the tournament progresses.
“Muller was excellent in the game. If it had not been for him, we would have been punished with several more goals,” said Philippines chief coach Michael Weiss.
“The problem with us in the game against Vietnam was the fact that we had several players who were still jet-lagged from their long flight (from Europe) and that was the reason why they could not play at the optimum level.”
The five players who joined the Philippines squad directly from their base in Europe were Manny Ott, Mark Hartmann and his brother Mattew James, Carlos De Murga and also Joshua Beloya.
“This is certainly a lesson for us in as far as getting players well ahead of competition schedule. Also the different weather condition between Indonesia and Europe was also a factor,” added Weiss.
But I hope that we can improve from this game and keep our campaign on track.”
In the meantime, Vietnam coach Falko Goetz must have suffered some anxious moments at the bench, watching his charger missing sitters, open goal, open headers and practically every other chance that came their way – not to mention too, their inability to better Muller.
But Goetz remained adamant where at the end of the day; it was the three points that mattered. The score line was not important.
“For me, I’m just satisfied that we can the full points. That was important,” said Goetz.
“The first game of the competition is always difficult and I had expected it to be so. But credit to my boys where despite the several frustrations, they kept at it and made sure that they pick up the full points.
“It can be demoralizing when you fall behind after being in control. But the lads showed the quality and the mental strength to stage a comeback.”
SEA GAMES 2011 RESULTS and FIXTURES
GROUP B
| DATE | MATCH | GROUP | KICK OFF | VENUE | ||
|
03.11.2011 |
VIETNAM 3 | vs | PHILIPPINES 1 |
B |
1600 hrs |
GELORA BUNG KARNO |
| LAOS 2 | vs | MYANMAR 3 | 1900 hrs | |||
| 04.11.2011 | REST DAY | |||||
|
05.11.2011 |
BRUNEI DARUSSALAM | vs | TIMOR LESTE |
B |
1600 hrs |
LEBAK BULUS |
| MYANMAR | vs | VIETNAM | 1900 hrs | |||
| 06.11.2011 | REST DAY | |||||
|
07.11.2011 |
TIMOR LESTE | vs | PHILIPPINES |
B |
1600 hrs |
LEBAK BULUS |
| LAOS | vs | BRUNEI DARUSSALAM | 1900 hrs | |||
| 08.11.2011 | REST DAY | |||||
|
09.11.2011 |
MYANMAR | vs | BRUNEI DARUSSALAM |
B |
1600 hrs |
LEBAK BULUS |
| VIETNAM | vs | TIMOR LESTE | 1900 hrs | |||
| 10.11.2011 | REST DAY | |||||
| 11.11.2011 | PHILIPPINES | vs | LAOS | B | 1600 hrs |
LEBAK BULUS |
| 12.11.2011 | BRUNEI DARUSSALAM | vs | VIETNAM | B | 1600 hrs | |
|
13.11.2011 |
PHILIPPINES | vs | MYANMAR |
B |
1600 hrs |
LEBAK BULUS |
| TIMOR LESTE | vs | LAOS | 1900 hrs | |||
| 14.11.2011 | REST DAY | |||||
|
15.11.2011 |
MYANMAR | vs | TIMOR LESTE |
B |
1600 hrs |
LEBAK BULUS |
| PHILIPPINES | vs | BRUNEI DARUSSALAM | 1900 hrs | |||
| 16.11.2011 | REST DAY | |||||
| 17.11.2011 | LAOS | vs | VIETNAM | B | 1600 hrs | LEBAK BULUS |
