Rob Gier credits Ian Araneta, timely stops in Azkals' historic Suzuki Cup bid

MANILA, Philippines – Former Philippine football team defender Rob Gier has had a lot of time to do some reflecting and thinking during this pandemic. This being the 10th anniversary of the historic 2010 Suzuki Cup where the Philippines advanced to the semifinals for the first time in the competition, setting off a chain reaction of frenzy and football popularity in the country to this day.

“If we go back to the qualifiers,” Gier told this writer during the Usapang Football webcast last Saturday, June 20, “talking about stuff like this it makes you go back into what happened. It is in the details. The small details.”

“We only qualified (to the group stages) by the absolute skin of our teeth,” he continued. “We won our first qualifying game 5-nil against Timor Leste, then drew with Laos (2-2) and Cambodia (0-0). If (forward) Ian Araneta hadn’t scored a hat-trick against Timor Leste, we wouldn’t have qualified because we had the same number of points as Laos and Cambodia.”

That 5-nil win was the Azkals’ second highest total in the competition. Their best scoring match was the 7-nil drubbing also of Timor Leste during the 2007 AFF Championship qualifiers.

During the entire 2010 tournament, there were these fortuitous moments that spurred the Azkals to a massive result.

Late in the game against Singapore, the first match of the group stages, Gier was unable to clear a threat inside, and the ball swung the way of the Lions’ Zulfahmi Arifin, but he was able to block a shot. The ball found its way to Singapore forward Aleksandar Duric, who had scored his country’s first goal. The ball hit goalkeeper Neil Etheridge’s foot and sailed over the bar. Had any of the Singaporeans scored, it would have been all over.

A moment later, Singapore had a chance to push the ball forward in the third minute of extra time — except midfielder Khairul Amri did not track the ball down. Joebel Bermejo, a late substitute for the Philippines, got to the ball first and passed it to Phil Younghusband, who was at the center of the field. He quickly passed the ball to James Younghusband, who raced toward the left side of the box. Now, Amri gave chase but not before Younghusband crossed the ball inside the box to Chris Greatwich who scored the late equalizer.

Just the way it was against Singapore, there was a crucial stop. Greatwich stopped a through ball by Vu Nhur Thanh, which saw the Philippines go on the counter attack. After Phil Younghusband’s shot was blocked by the Vietnamese goalkeeper, Ian Araneta retrieved the rebound. He waited for Greatwich, who cut right above the middle of the box and drew two defenders. With Phil open, Greatwich passed him the ball. Younghusband ditched his defender with a nifty 1v1 for a goal that proved to be the clincher.

“I find myself talking about it (the 2010 Suzuki Cup) a lot recently as it is the 10th anniversary,” summed up Gier. “This pandemic has made you take stock of things. I love everything about it. The 2010 Suzuki Cup was the milestone in my career and one of the biggest things I did as a player. It was a special time with a special group of players under special circumstances.”