MANILA, Philippines - Azkals head coach Michael Weiss hopes that the team's masterful performance against a higher-ranked Nepal side will push more people to support the national football team.
The Azkals dominated Nepal en route to a 4-nil victory last Tuesday at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
In the post-match interview, Weiss said the team's victory proved they are capable of beating even higher ranked teams, and asked for more support instead of negative comments about the Azkals.
"All the people who were trying to push the coaching staff down in the past and made comments that were unnecessary, I hope they realize we are seriously working," Weiss said. "I hope they realize and keep on supporting instead of putting a negative mentality into the team."
Weiss was visibly happy about the result of the match, and said he was especially proud of striker Phil Younghusband, who scored two goals during the match.
"I'm very happy and very proud of Phil Younghusband. He gave critics the right answer and proved that he's a top, high-profile striker," he said.
It was not the first time that coach Weiss had slammed the Azkals' critics, having also responded to people who questioned his decisions regarding the Azkals' World Cup qualifiers against Kuwait.
"The people who make these comments, they don't know what's going on in the training," Weiss said at the time.