By ADRIAN STEWART CO

The Philippine Azkals were given a tough reality check by Thailand War Elephants with a 4-0 thrashing in the 2022 AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup at the Thammasat Stadium in Thailand on Monday night, December 26.

The defeat to the defending champion War Elephants dropped the national men’s football team to fourth place in the Group A standings with three points on two losses and a victory.

The Azkals failed to ride on the momentum of their lopsided victory over Cambodia last week as veteran Teerasil Dangda surged the Thais ahead at the three minute mark with a header.

Dangda managed to double the advantage for the War Elephants just before the halftime break as they knocked in a penalty kick in the 41st minute past the national squad goalkeeper Julian Schwarzer.

Come the second half, the War Elephants continued to attack the defense of the Azkals as Adisak Kraisorn capitalized on a Dangda assist to tap the ball home in the 57th minute for a 3-0 score.

Six minutes later, the War Elephants got its fourth goal of the game when Suphanan Bureerat finished from close range when he slotted the ball past the defense of Schwarzer.

The Azkals then got their first real chance to break the dry spell in the 65th minute with Sebastian Rasmussen’s header attempt, but it was easily thwarted by the defense of Thailand.

The Philippine team had another close opportunity to score nine minutes later, but Hikaru Minegishi’s header was blocked while Stephan Schrock misfired from a corner kick by Minegishi.

The reigning champion War Elephants thus went up to top spot in Group A with six points on two victories. They will return to action against Indonesia in Jakarta on Thursday afternoon, December 29.

The Philippines will also take on Indonesia — which secured a 7-0 victory against Brunei on early Monday — to end its Group A campaign on January 2, 2023 at 8:30 p.m. at the Rizal Memorial Stadium./ASC, WDJ