Pinoy booters take on defending champ Vietnam

Boosted by its 1-1 draw against favored Singapore on Thursday, the Philippines hopes to survive another tough assignment when it takes on defending champion Vietnam in the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup at the My Dinh National Stadium at 8:30 p.m. (Manila time) on Sunday.

The Filipinos are again the heavy underdogs when they face the host squad, which cruised to a 7-1 win over Myanmar also last Thursday. And while the draw against Singapore was pivotal, national team manager Dan Palami said that his wards' job is far from over. "It will get a lot tougher from here," said Palami, who is the president of the Leyte Football Association (LFA) and was recently named a board member of the Philippine Football Federation (PFF). "We should be done celebrating the Singapore draw and start focusing on Vietnam. We have our work cut out for us," Palami said. A late injury time goal by Filipino-British Chris Greatwich, a US-based veteran midfielder, forced the draw against the Singaporeans as both teams scored a point each behind Vietnam's three. "Nobody is expecting us to make an impact here," said Palami. "That's been our motivation." While they face a tall order in beating the hosts, Palami hopes that his wards would play with the same intensity as they did against Singapore. Assessing that first match, Simon McMenemy, the Philippines' English coach, said they hope to improve on their counterattacking in the hope of scoring an upset against powerhouse Vietnam. "Against Singapore, we counterattacked well without even a plan," said McMenemy. "I think if we put a little more structure into it, we can create more goal-scoring opportunities." At the pre-match press briefing in Hanoi, Vietnam coach Henrique Calisto said he took notice of the Philippines' new-found confidence. "The Philippines are a strong team with a strong defense and we must be careful." – JVP, GMANews.TV