Game Wednesday (Kuwait City, Kuwait)
11:50 p.m. ­ Kuwait vs Philippines

The Philippine Azkals settled for a surprising scoreless draw with highly-ranked Bahrain in an international friendly match yesterday at the Al Muharraq Stadium in Manama.

Entering the match with little expectations, it was the Azkals who were dictating the tempo as they failed to capitalize on a number of scoring chances in the first half to force a stalemate with the 115th-ranked nation.

Denis Wolf, winner of the Golden Boot Award in the title-winning Philippine Football Cup, had a golden chance to score in the 30th minute when he received a long pass but his shot was deflected by the Bahrain goalkeeper.

Bahrain’s only chance came 15 minutes earlier when Sami AlHussaini nearly scored when he booted a right-foot kick from the box. Azkals goalkeeper Roland Muller deflected the ball but in came defender Rob Gier to make a timely clearance.

Muller, Gier, Juani Guirado and Fil-Danish Dennis Cagara returned to the Azkals side after missing most of the previous friendlies due to commitments with their clubs in Europe.

The Azkals forced a tie despite the absence of brothers Phil and James Younghusband, who decided to skip the match due to a previous engagement. The two actually flew on Friday for Kuwait City for Wednesday’s friendly former 2014 World Cup second round qualifier opponent Kuwait.

Ace goalkeeper Neil Etheridge, who is about to wrap up his stint with Briston Rovers on loan from English Premier League club Fulham, has confirmed his availability for the Kuwait friendly.

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