By FRANCIS SANTIAGO
MANILA, Philippines – Midfielder Jason de Jong has ruled himself out of the Philippine Azkals’ matches in the group qualifying tournament of Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Challenge Cup that starts March 21 in Rangoon, Myanmar.
De Jong, who missed the second leg of the pre-qualifying showdown against Mongolia last Tuesday, said his commitments with his club, Persiba Balikpapan, in the Indonesian Super League has prevented him from joining the team in Myanmar’s biggest city, where the Philippines will play the host (March 21), Palestine (March 23) and Bangladesh (March 25) in a single round eliminations.
Team coordinator Patrick Ace Bright broke the sad news about 20-year-old De Jong.
De Jong was able to play in the first leg of the series against Mongolia in Bacolod City.
“Hindi siya pinayagan ng club niya sa Indonesia,” Bright said yesterday.
Star striker Phil Younghusband will also miss the Azkals’ Myanmar campaign after pulling his hamstring last Tuesday against Mongolia.
The return of a key player and addition of promising recruits, though, could offset de Jong and Younghusband’s absence in the tournament.
The Azkals need to win at least two of their three matches in Myanmar to make it to the main draw next year.
Bright said goalkeeper Neil Etheridge and Rob Gier have confirmed their return to the Azkals, while five new players will be added to beef up their line up.
They will have two new strikers in Fil-Spanish Angel Aldeguer Guirado, who will fly in from Spain today, and Fil-German William Espinosa Guiridon plus Fil-German John Patrick Hinrichsen, whose mother is from Pagadian City, and David Basa and Yannick Tuason.
Manila Bulletin
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Sabi na nga ba dadating ang panahon na hindi sya papayagan ng club nya.
ReplyDeleteI saw this one coming from kilometres away.
this is unfair. commitments to the National squad is greater than any club in the world. And coming from a club from Indonesia is just a joke.
ReplyDeleteYou can't really blame Persiba in this case. De Jong apparently had a terrible debut and it seems like part of his '"punishment" is to continue to adapt to the team and therefore not be able to go out on international duty.
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