COACH Carles Cuadrat considered the Philippines’ campaign in Asean Championship-Hyundai Cup a “learning experience” despite the booters’ failure to advance to the semifinals.

Mr. Cuadrat’s youth-laden squad managed only one win in Group B at the expense of Laos, 4-1, versus a 1-4 heartbreaker at the hands of Myanmar at home and back-to-back 0-1 losses to former champions Thailand and Malaysia.

The Filipinos finished fourth with three points, just ahead of winless Laos in the final standings of the group stage. Topnotcher Thailand, with its perfect 12 points on four victories, and No. 2 Malaysia, with nine points on three wins and one loss, grabbed the two berths to the crossover Final Four.

“The last two games against Thailand and Malaysia have been challenging tests for the players involved, and they showed that they can be competitive against strong teams,” Mr. Cuadrat said.

“We have been taking advantage of these four games, plus the two games in June, to see new players, and I’m positive because we have discovered new soldiers for the future.”

The Asean experience, he stressed, augurs well especially for the young guns such as winger Kenji Nishioka and U19 standout Cole Mrowka moving forward.

“The tournament has been exhausting, with so much travel and games played every three days, but we have to see the good things because although we didn’t qualify, players learned a lot from these games,” he said.

“Our real test will be in the FIFA tournament, when we can bring all the players, and I’m happy that we have been able to test new faces for the national team.” — Olmin Leyba

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