PHILIPPINE Football Federation (PFF) President Mariano Araneta said the PFF is inviting foreign teams to play against the country’s Under-23 squad in exhibition games.
The matches would serve as tune-up games for the Philippine Under-23 squad that is set to compete in the coming 26th Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) in Indonesia on November 11 to 25.
“We are inviting teams from other countries in Asia to play with us to hone the skills of our players,” said Araneta, noting that Azkals’ German coach Hans Michael Weiss would oversee the training of the country’s U-23 team beginning this week.
Araneta told The Manila Times that Malaysia has declined the PFF’s invitation due to conflict in schedule. India, however, agreed to play with the Filipino squad. No final confirmations were received yet from the other foreign teams invited.
“We’ve invited India for an October 6 match and we’re still arranging other schedules,” said Araneta.
India is currently No. 153 in Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) rankings while the Philippines is No. 162.
Manila Times
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7 hours ago
I thought it was the senior NT that was going to play Malaysia and India and not the U23?
ReplyDeleteOf course not jonny. They dont want to risk the FIFA rankings! Hahaha
ReplyDeleteI thought they wanted to improve the rankings :)
ReplyDeleteAnyway I think the journalist got this a bit wrong and mixed U23 and Azkals...
Yeah, the countries invited were for the senior team. The journalist is confused although ideally we can have two matches on the same day, one for the men's and the other for the U-23. I don't think that is the case though. At least we have India booked up for October. I think they should also invite a team from the central Asian countries as well.
ReplyDeleteAre those dates on the FIFA calendar?
ReplyDeleteOctober 7-11 are FIFA dates!
ReplyDelete