National men’s football team head coach Albert Capellas rallied behind his players despite failing to log a victory in the ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup.

Capellas said facing a homecourt disadvantage against Indonesia, he is still confident that the Nationals have all the tools needed and the heart to play in their last Group B match.

The Philippines posted three draws in as many games and is competing against the Indonesians, who are second in the group with a 1-1-1 win-draw-loss record, at press time at the Manahan Stadium in Surakarta.

“I know my players, I know that they will deliver 100 percent and we will come here tomorrow to try to win the game because we have to win the game if we want to have chances to qualify,” Capellas said.

“I think we are facing a very good team that plays at home with a big audience, a passionate team that we have to play very well if we want to have chances.”

While their last match against Vietnam ended in a 1-1 stalemate last Wednesday at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium, it’s a sign of hope for the Filipinos.

After all, the result was the first time in 12 years that the Philippines did not lose to the Vietnamese in the tournament.

Capellas said it’s up to the players to execute their plans inside the pitch to finally stop a six-year absence in the Mitsubishi Electric Cup semifinals.

The last time the Filipinos made the semifinals of the tournament was in 2018 under the guidance of head coach Sven-Goran Errikson and bannered by the likes of Phil Younghusband and Neil Etheridge.

“At the end as coaches and our staff we try to get the right information from everybody that we have connections with and of course we use all of them but at the end of the day, the most important thing is that we have to perform on the field,” Capellas said.

“It’s not what we know, it’s what we can do on the field that is what matters in the football game and that is what we’ll try to do.”