16 February 2011

Palami confident of Azkals chances

Joaquin Henson (The Philippine Star)


MANILA, Philippines - National football team manager Dan Palami said yesterday he doubts if Mongolia will score against the Azkals in the rematch of their Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Challenge Cup qualifying home-and-away series in Ulan Bator on March 15.

“Our defense will take care of their offense,” said Palami during their visit to The STAR. “Our defense is intact and I expect their defense to open up because they’ll be attacking to try to score goals. I think our midfield will be able to control their offense.”

Palami said he’s confident that goalkeeper Neil Etheridge will be allowed by his English club Fulham to play in Mongolia. Etheridge, 21, was born in Enfield, a London borough, and traces his Filipino roots to the Dula clan of Tarlac. He joined the Chelsea football academy in 2003 with the Younghusband brothers, James and Phil, also Fil-British players. In 2006, Etheridge was enlisted by Fulham. Two years later, he made his debut with the Philippine team in the AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers.

Philippine Football Federation (PFF) president Mariano Araneta Jr. said if Etheridge is permitted by Fulham to play only either in Mongolia or the Challenge Cup group stage in Bangladesh, he would suggest skipping the rematch in Ulan Bator.

The group stage competitions are set on March 20-31. If the Philippines overcomes Mongolia, it will advance to play Myanmar, Palestine and Bangladesh in Group A of the Challenge Cup. The top two finishers will move on to join six others, the top two placers in three other groups, in the eight-team Challenge Cup finals. Myanmar is the only country ranged against the Philippines from the qualifying stage that has a higher FIFA ranking. Myanmar is No. 149, the Philippines No. 152, Bangladesh No. 157 and Palestine No. 178.

If Etheridge is unable to play in Ulan Bator, his place will likely be taken over by reserve goalie Eduard Sacapano, a 30-year-old veteran from the Philippine Army.

Palami said only 18 players will travel to Mongolia. A spot in the roster is being held for Danish-born Jerry Lucena, a midfielder with the Danish Division I club AGF Aarhus.

If Lucena is issued his Philippine passport, he will join the Azkals in Ulan Bator, said Palami. Lucena, 30, was born in Esbjerg, Denmark, to a Filipino father and a Danish mother. He played for the Danish under-21 selection in 2001.

Palami said the full complement of 23 players will fly to Bangladesh if the Azkals make it to the group stage. A possible addition to the lineup for Bangladesh is Filipino-born William Espinosa of Laguna. The striker was raised and learned football in Germany where his surname was legally changed to Gueridon although his passport still carries Espinosa. He was one of four Azkals who scored in a recent practice match against a Korean team, reinforced by two Filipinos, from the Central Philippine University of Iloilo.

Azkals coach Michael Weiss confirmed in an e-mail to The Star that “we will stick with the team but will have vacant positions for tryouts.” Weiss said the Azkals start training in Baguio on Monday and are tentatively scheduled to fly to Mongolia on March 8.

Araneta said if Mongolia won’t provide a facility for practice, the Azkals might take a side trip to Japan to get used to winter conditions. “If we can’t train in Mongolia one week before the competition, then we’ll request Japan to assist us for the team to train and acclimatize to the cold weather,” he said.

Weiss said the immediate goal is for the Azkals to play in the Challenge Cup finals. “We’ll go as far as we can in the Challenge Cup,” he said. “I think we should be able to beat Mongolia and perhaps, finish in the best eight.”

The Philippine team will be reconfigured for the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Palembang, Indonesia, in November because the age limit is 23. But while the Younghusbands, Aly Borromeo, Ian Araneta and Chieffy Caligdong won’t qualify, there are more than enough eligible players, including Etheridge, Jason de Jong, 20, Simon Greatwich, 21, Mark Drinkuth, 19, Mark Ferrer, 21, David Basa, 21, Manuel Ott, 18, Jerry Barbaso, 22, Gino Pavone, 22 and Christopher Camcam, 16.

Palami said unfortunately, Lucena and Espinosa are over the age limit for the SEA Games.


Philstar

13 comments:

  1. i noticed that they slid Gener back and Jonsonn played in the middle? Is Jonsonn really a mid fielder and not a fullback?

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  2. It seems that the PFF did not enter the U-16 AFC qualifiers this year.

    http://www.the-afc.com/en/inside-afc/676....2010-qualifiers

    Another lost chance for our youth to gain experience. With all the funding coming in this year, what excuse do they have this time for not participating?

    We are receiving $300000 extra FIFA World Cup money along with $250000 annual subsidy to be used for this very purpose but again we failed to grab this opportunity bloody our youth in international competition.

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  3. Ask ko lng po kung hindi po pwede ma-apply yung Olympic rules regarding the allowing of at least 3 over age players in the football team or any other team this SEA games.......

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  4. The Azkals U23 team is capable of getting a medal with addition of the Mark McMahon, Hall (James and Ryan) brothers and fil-belgian Van Bosche and Paulo Pascual. I think its the time when Mark Drinkuth makes a big mark at the ASEAN football scene.

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  5. @ mapster -
    Jonsson is a fullback that can play left wing, not a central midfielder.

    @ Anonymous February 17, 2011 6:34 AM -
    The fringe players along with the new blood that will make up the U-23's is too inexperienced. Ever since the SEA Games football became an U-23 tournament, the Philippines has only joined once, that was in 2005 when we hosted it. They aimed to get a bronze that time as well but failed quite badly. Six years later (2011), we'll be making a comeback and you expect to get a medal? It's too soon. The aim for this year's SEA Games should be about giving experience to the younger players and then maybe aim for a medal in 2013, just not this year.

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  6. And to add, other team like Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand already have their U-23 training camp since last month while there is still no clear program with the Philippines U-23 team and people still expect them to get a medal?

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  7. @ Anonymous February 17, 2011 1:32 PM -
    Yun nga eh! Once again its hype! Too much hype. Because of that they have all these high expectations and actually believe they are attainable at this moment in time when they're not.

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  8. In other news, Myanmar our first opponent in the AFC Challenge Cup group qualifiers in March has just hired a very good and experienced coach Serbian Milan Zivadinovic who has the best record among the coaches in ASEAN and is considered a legend in Serbia. He is the sort of coach who can train his team to counterattack successfully against possession oriented offensive teams which Coach Weiss seems to favor. We will find out in March how good our coach really is in that first match in the AFC Challenge Cup. It is interesting to read that they also hired Serbian assistant coaches. All of the coaches is paid for by the government as the current military leader is an avid football fan.

    YANGON (3 Feb 2011) – The Myanmar Football Federation (MFF) have appointed Milan Zivadinovic of Serbia as the new chief of the Myanmar national team.
    The former Iraq and Ghana national team cach, Zivadinovic signed a two-year contract with the MFF in a ceremony last week.
    The deal, which is reported to be worth around USD180,000 per year, will also see the 66-year-old Zivadinovic guiding the Myanmar Oympic team.
    The Myanmar Under-23 side will be playing in the 2012 Olympic qualifiers against India later this month.
    At the same ceremony, Jovica Nikolic and Goran Zivadinovic were also appointed as the assistants to Zivadinovic.
    Former player of Red Star Belgrade, Zivadinovic took charge of the Yugoslavia national team in 1998 where he boosted their FIFA ranking to the highest ever at sixth.
    He was also voted as the best coach in Yugoslavia 1993 and the best foreign coach in Turkey 1984. While in Yugoslavia, he had a hand in developing players like Mijatovic (Real Madrid), Stankovic (Inter Milan), Mihajlovic (Inter Milan) and Kezman (PSV/Chelsea).

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  9. cjeagle = pelefan?

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  10. Yup. Is that you Jonny?

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  11. Well I don't know why most people here like to hide behind anonymous tags. If you have an opinion say it. As long as you keep it civil, there is no reason why can't carry on an intelligent conversation in the new world of social media.

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  12. People "hide" behind anonymous tags because it takes too long to sign in an account, and the Name/URL feature takes the same effort as the Anonymous tag so might as well use the anonymous.
    At least, that's my reason.

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