Capellas remains wary of Laotians

The Philippine national men’s football team wants to make the most of the short rest time in the ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup by getting in peak condition.

National team head coach Albert Capellas said they can’t take Laos lightly.

The Filipino and Laotians are competing at the New Laos National Stadium In Vientiane at press time.

“We had only two days of preparation, and one was for traveling, so we only have today to really prepare for the game. It’s a very short time, but of course we are professionals, so the players will deliver their best,” Capellas said.

“If we want to win this game, we’ll need to be good in offense, but also very organized in our defense.”

The Philippines will have only short periods of rest for the remainder of its Group B matches.

After the Laos match, the Nationals will return to Manila to face Vietnam on 18 December at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium.

On 21 December, the Nationals will face Indonesia at the Manahan Stadium in Surakarta, Indonesia.

The Philippines is aiming to make it back to the semifinals of the competition after six years.

Defender Zico Bailey said they will be going up against Laos with fire in their eyes after both sides finished with a draw in their previous match.

The Philippines settled for a 1-1 draw against Myanmar last Thursday while Laos forced a 3-3 draw against Indonesia.

“We have a lot of respect for them. They have a lot of good players. They had a good result in their last match, so we’re not taking them lightly,” Bailey said.

“We’re just going to go over how we’re going to play, our tactics, the formation of the players, and we’ll give our best tomorrow.”