Azkals 90% complete; Mongolia arrives today

WITH two more sleeps left before the final showdown kicks off at Panaad Stadium between Philippine Football Team-Azkals and team Mongolia for the 2012 AFC-Challenge Cup qualifying match, Azkals’ team manager Dan Palami yesterday said that the squad is 90 percent complete and ready for action.


Palami also disclosed before a thousand fans watching at the stadium that, with the team almost complete, they were able to some problems as to the plays setup in yesterday’s session.

“With Rob Geir coming up, I hope he will able to adjust with the weather following his arrival from United Kingdom,” Palami added.


“I think with the team almost complete, maybe after one or two more session we will get the proper chemistry,” skipper Aly Borromeo said.


Meanwhile, Azkals’ head coach Hans Micheal Weiss stressed that they want to make sure that they maintain their high speed throughout the course of Wednesday’s game against Mongolia.

On the other hand, team Mongolia is arriving at 3:15pm today and expected to test the Panaad grounds tonight as part of their familiarization of the playing venue.

New players coming

With the Azkals nearly making a big name in the world of football, the team’s fame caught the interest of lots of Fil-foreign players seeing action abroad to join the team.

Yesterday, five Fil-foreign booters joined the Azkals’ practice at Panaad. They were the Negros-born James and Ryan Hall, Jerry Lucena, Dennis Cagara and another 19-year-old Fil-Belgian Van Bosche.


According to Weiss, this young Fil-Belgian is on a holiday vacation and simply approached them yesterday and had a tryout with the team.


Meanwhile, Palami said that the coaching staff is assessing the Hall brother as to what role they will play in the team.


“I think it’s good that they are here. Their teammates as well as the coaching staff will be able to determine what role they are playing,” Palami added.

Weiss, on the other hand, stated that the Hall brothers are also candidates for the country’s under 23 team bound to see action in the South East Asian Games this November.

The head coach, however, said that unfortunately, these players will not be able to see action on the February 9 match but will possibly play in the March 15 game in Mongolia.

Published in the Sun.Star Bacolod newspaper on February 07, 2011.