MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Football Federation (PFF) is trying to arrange a pair of Fifa friendly matches in October to test the skills of the Azkals and possibly improve their ranking among football-playing nations.
The Azkals stand at 162nd in the latest monthly world rankings released by the Fifa last Wednesday, maintaining their previous position. They failed to earn ranking points from their 0-3 and 1-2 setbacks to Kuwait in the Fifa World Cup Asian Qualifiers second round last July 23 and 28.
PFF president Mariano “Nonong” Araneta said they are inviting Oman, Qatar, and Singapore to come over for a friendly on Oct. 6 prior to their third round campaigns in nearby countries.
Oman (103rd) will play an away match against Australia on Oct. 11, the same day Qatar (88th) is set to take on home side Australia, and Singapore (129th) hosts Jordan.
Another tune-up is eyed on Oct. 6 against Bangladesh, a side that the Azkals defeated in the AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers but ranks higher than Phl at 139th.
The Bangladeshis moved eight notches in the latest rankings on the strength of their 2-0 win over Lebanon in the second leg of their Fifa World Cup Asian Qualifiers Round 2 tussle. Bangladesh eventually lost to the Lebanese on goal aggregate, 4-2, to bow out.
“Hopefully Bangladesh will accept our invitation since they have no more (WC) matches and anyone among Oman, Qatar and Singapore will agree to play the Azkals before their third round,” Araneta told The STAR.
“Our players based in Europe will be available during those dates (Oct. 6 and 9) so we can truly gauge the team against higher-ranked opponents,” he added.
The PFF had earlier invited Malaysia, Vietnam, Nepal and Jordan but each declined.
The Azkals will resume training on Aug. 29, then hold camp in Bacolod City from Sept. 8-15 to play against Ilonggo squads before competing in the Long Teng Cup in Kaohsiung, Chinese Taipei on Sept. 28-Oct. 2.
Some of the players in the Phl U-23 pool will join the Azkals in the Chinese-Taipei meet. After that, the U-23 booters and their teammates will spend one week in Southern Japan (Oct. 21-28) as final buildup for their Southeast Asian Games sortie.
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They will not learn anything from playing Bangladesh. What I don't understand is why not invite countries from outside the confederation like Africa or Concacaf who will provide more competition than Bangladesh or Nepal? With the full team, the emphasis should be exposing the team to stronger opponents with different styles of play. Why limit yourself to weaker countries in Asia? There are stronger countries from different confederations like Africa, Concacaf, or even Europe or South America, that might be available especially if you offer to cover their expenses? The Middle Eastern countries regularly schedule games against African countries, when they are not playing each other or stronger countries in Asia, which has helped improve their competitiveness through the years. We should do the same.
ReplyDeleteHahaha!!! Oh man! You make it seem like its that easy to be able to contact an FA of a relatively strong footballing nation and ask them to send their national team to come over for a friendly. You think that's not what the PFF wants?? Of course they would want that but again, it's not that simple. At the same time you're belittling the likes of Bangladesh and Nepal. And then you suggest the PFF cover the visiting team's expenses?!? lol!!
ReplyDeleteOh I fully understand why a lot of stronger nations in Asia would not want to play us in friendlies at this time. All I am saying is why not cast a wider net? Why limit yourself to the weaker countries in Asia? In order to get better, you need to expose the team to different styles of play. There are countries in Africa or Concacaf, that will provide stronger competition and give us exposure to different standards and styles of play. India just lost 0-3 to Trinidad and Tobago, a small Caribbean country from Concacaf with a strong football history.
ReplyDeleteAs for covering a team's expenses, that is normal practice in other countries, including here in Concacaf, if you want teams to chose you instead of arranging friendlies with somebody else. Some countries like Brazil or Argentina even charge a fee aside from covering their expenses if you want to play them. Countries who host these teams charge higher admission prices to cover their expenses.
As for you, apparently your only response to a constructive suggestion is lol. Maybe you should check how other countries arrange friendlies first, as the PFF has not had any experience in doing this in such a long time. We have had how many rejections already. What does that tell you/
Interesting suggestion cjeagle. It does seem like an odd strategy to have friendlies when there is no upcoming tournament to prepare for. RP based players would likely benefit from a game. The Euro based players are getting much better training and competition in Europe then they would ever get playing Nepal or Bangladesh. It doesn't make much sense to bring a Euro based player over in the middle of their club season to play against a team that is worse than their club team. The Azkals need the co-operation of the foreign clubs. Lets not screw things up by calling up players so that we can play minnows to get ratings points.
ReplyDeletePlaying African countries makes some sense. We would have to cover their expenses but I think many of them would welcome an invitation. Getting a CONCACAF team to come is impractical. The cost of airfare alone would prevent countries in Central America and the Caribbean from coming.
A better idea would be for the Azkals to go abroad. What do you think cjeagle? How about an Azkals tour of St. Lucia, Martinique, Barbados, Bahamas, and Virgin Islands? I'm in!!!
Thanks for the intelligent critique of my suggestion. Maybe some of my comments don't make financial sense and I can accept that. A Caribbean tour sounds like a nice way to go on vacation while getting some competitive games in. (-:
ReplyDeleteAnyways India just finished having some friendlies in the Caribbean losing to Trinidad and Tobago(#91 in the FIFA rankings) 0-3 and Guyana(#114) 1-2 which just goes to show how competitive playing in that region can be for us as well.
If they are ever going to visit the Concacaf region, they should make it a point to visit the US where they can rent a stadium which I believe if they market it right, they can sell out and make a nice profit from, considering that there are millions of Filipinos who would like to see them play here including me. (-: Mexico sell out their games all the time in huge stadiums( up to 100,000 capacity). The Azkals can aim for medium size stadiums here in the US and do the same.
You are also probably right that some of these African countries will be willing to go to Manila but will require us to cover their expenses although a few like South Africa might be able to do it on their own.
I noticed that Middle Eastern countries including some with football budgets even less than ours like Palestine, seem to schedule a lot of friendlies with some of these African countries which seem to be competitive even with the stronger Middle Eastern teams. They are closer to Africa though so maybe it might be easier for them to schedule these friendlies.
To put more flesh in my suggestion about a visit to the US in the future when they have become more competitive, the Azkals could arrange for a friendly against El Salvador, Panama, Honduras or Guatemala right here in the US and with the combined fanbase of those countries and ours can fill up a lot of stadiums and provide a tidy profit for the participating federations. The USSF will have to get involved of course since it is in their territory and will help market the games just like they do Mexico and other countries under their SUM marketing division. Even with the USSF getting a cut, I can envision that the Azkals will end up getting a bigger profit, considering how relatively expensive seats can be here compared to Manila, than they will ever get in Rizal Memorial Stadium.
ReplyDeleteWhy do everybody refuse to come to Philippines for a friendly ?
ReplyDeleteCould it be that the offer is too bad ? Did they tell Nepal to come , but Nepal had to pay for the airtickets ?
PFF will get lots of money from tv deal and entrance from the friendlies, they need to give the opponents a better offer and pay for the airtickets.
Getting good opponents in October is not easy , Asian teams play one Third Round qualifiers for World Cup on the FIFA match dates, CONCACAF two matches. African teams play African Championship qualifiers on 7. to 9. October.
If you want a really good opponent , try to get New Zealand.
Asian teams : Yemen , Turkmenistan , Maldives , Myanmar , Palestine ,Brunei , Laos or Cambodia..
What happened with Manila Beer Cup in October ? Organizing a three nations tournament on 7, 9 and 11 October could maybe get some teams to come to Philippines.
Playing Macau on Oct 4 in Long Teng Cup and a friendly in Philippines on Oct 6 ? Is that possible ?
ReplyDeletejonny, manila beer cup has been scrapped. it was reported not too long ago.
ReplyDeleteStronger opponent in Asia? Maybe ask Syria as they are suspended from WC qualifiers....and strong enough to give our team headaches.
ReplyDeleteA cool suggestion......would be great to see the Azakls play vs. teams from Africa or Central America/Caribbean....but I guess with the incompetence of PFF nothing will happen again....all countries making friendlies all the time only we can't manage something.
You still have to give a tad bit of credit to the PFF. I mean, look at all the reports about the PFF trying to get the likes of Vietnam, Malaysia, India, etc. It's clear they're trying but at the end of the day you can't just expect an FA to accept and confirm that they'll have their national team go over to your country and play a friendly! You gotta consider things such as the financial aspects, the notion that they might not want to play us even though we clearly want to play a whole bunch of countries, conflict of schedules, etc. It's all too easy to just sit their and say that the PFF is incompetent. Sure they've proven they are but in this case it's clear as day they're trying really hard to get a decent team in to play.
ReplyDeletecjeagle. Sorry to be a killjoy, but games against Honduras, El Salvador, Panama etc. would be very one sided. As US and Canadian teams have learned over the years playing in those countries can be a very unpleasant situation. In El Salvador fottball is not a mattter of life or death. It is much more important than that. Games in the USA could be fun but I am not sure if Azkals fever has crossed the Pacific.
ReplyDeleteJonny. Visiting teams want to make some money and they want good facilities. Other countries can provide a better offer. We are beginning to catch up though. Hopefully we won't be having this discussion in the future.
I am fully aware how strong those CONCACAF teams are. I mentioned in my comment that this is for the future when we will be more competitive. The reason I mentioned those teams is that except maybe for Panama, they already have a proven fanbase that helps fill up stadiums here in the US.
ReplyDeleteIn order to get the teams we want, we might need to cover the expenses of some of this teams. That is an accepted practice in a lot of friendlies, of which the Azkals have availed of themselves in their games and camps abroad. Otherwise, since we are unknown to most teams, we will always have a hard time attracting teams to visit us. Since we have proven now that the Azkals can sell out Rizal Memorial Stadium, this should help defray expenses, maybe even raising ticket prices if necessary.