By Cedelf P. Tupas
ANILA—The Philippine Football Federation is still keen on hosting higher-ranked countries Bangladesh or India at the Rizal Memorial Stadium on Oct. 9 to play against the Philippine Azkals.
Although Pakistan has expressed interest in going to Manila to face the Azkals, PFF president Mariano “Nonong” Araneta said their preference remains Bangladesh (No. 139) or India (No. 158), where former national coach Des Bulpin is currently employed.
The PFF has already agreed with the Football Association of Singapore to stage a friendly pitting the Azkals and the Lions in Singapore on Oct. 6.
Ranked 33 places higher than the Azkals at No. 129 in the world, the Lions, who will use the game as a warm-up for their World Cup Qualifying clash on Oct. 11, will be facing a full-strength Philippine side that will include the likes of Europe-based Neil Etheridge, Paul Mulders and Ray Jonsson.
Because of this development, the Azkals may be flying straight to Singapore from Taipei, where they will play three matches in the Long Teng Cup from Sept. 28 to Oct. 4.
Despite the already busy schedule of the national team, Araneta said the PFF is determined to organize a home match for the Azkals to take advantage of the international break, which runs from Oct. 6 to 11.
If the home match pushes through, the Azkals could be playing five matches in 12 days.
Clubs are inclined to release their players for national team duties during the international break.
“We still want to showcase our best team in Manila,” said Araneta.
Araneta said they are even willing to write off the $22,000 debt of Bangladesh to the federation just for them to agree to play against the Azkals.
The debt stemmed from expenses incurred by Bangladesh when they joined an age-group tournament in the Philippines during the time of former PFF head Mari Martinez.
Meanwhile, Azkals coach Michael Weiss has expressed concern over the condition of the pitch at the Rizal Memorial Stadium, even as he stressed that it should be maintained for the whole year, not just for certain matches.
“The condition of the pitch is like day and night compared to the Kuwait match,” said Weiss, whose wards started training at the Rizal Memorial Stadium late last week.
“The country has to ask itself whether it can only have a pitch for particular matches or whether they want a pitch that they can showcase to the country,” said Weiss.
“Normally it should be maintained the whole year and not only for particular matches. I hope they can correct that.”
inquirer.net
FIFA Ranking - November 2024 - Sneak Peek
2 days ago
Too much focus on the FIFA rankings. At the end of the day it's just a friendly. Just accept Pakistan's offer and get on with it FFS!!
ReplyDeleteConcerning the condition of the pitch at Rizal, it seems to be a case of ningas cogon, as they are not maintaining it properly. Maybe since it will be the national stadium, they should reserve it for mostly international events and not practice there all the time.
ReplyDelete"Maybe since it will be the national stadium"
ReplyDeleteEver since it was built it's been the national stadium!
Sooner rather later though, they'll finally have a proper training ground with the proposed artificial turf at PhilSports.
"You mean sooner rather than later though right?" (-:
ReplyDeleteAs to the 3 nations mentioned aside from Singapore, I prefer India as we haven't played them in some time aside from having a higher ranking than us. We already played with Bangladesh in the AFC Challenge Cup with less than a full team and we handled them easily. With a stronger lineup we need more challenging opponents to gauge our strength and uncover any weaknesses we might have.
And you should only be quoting "sooner rather than later". You're quoting yourself and what I said. So much for you being a grammar cop. :p
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I'd rather we play Pakistan since we've never played them yet. They're also the only South Asian team we've yet to play, might as well complete the list and I'm sure they'd still give us a good game.
Since we might be facing India(former Challenge Cup champion) next year in the AFC Challenge Cup, it would be good to see how we match up against them. Pakistan unfortunately, is at the same level as Bangladesh, without the FIFA ranking that the PFF is aiming for as an incentive, so we have as much to gain from that matchup except as you said play our first game against them.
ReplyDeleteTyping error. I meant 'we won't have as much to gain from the matchup with Pakistan' in case you want to play grammar cop again, Mr. Wiseguy.
ReplyDelete"Pakistan unfortunately, is at the same level as Bangladesh."
ReplyDeleteOh, sorry, didn't realize we we're too good to be playing the likes of Pakistan and Bangladesh.... right. Like I said, we've never played them before, so how would you know that we supposedly have nothing to gain.
Mr Wiseguy?! pfff. You're the one that pointed out my typing error first, I just returned favor. On top of that, you're also saying that Pakistan are "unfortunately" at the same level as Bangladesh. So who's the wise guy here?!?
There is no point in answering a troll as I have learned to my dismay so I won't even try, Mr. Wiseguy. They just don't make any sense.
ReplyDeleteBTW,
ReplyDeleteI was the anonymous guy who made the comment at 5:01 AM. I might just use the anonymous tag from now on to avoid the troll.
Oooohh I'm so scared now.... dumbass!
ReplyDeleteClearly you think you're some know it all shit face that thinks you're better than most. But you're just some wannabe American fucktard who knows jack shit. You only showed up after the Philippines reached semis of last year's Suzuki Cup. Now you're practically all over the net practically trying to give people what looks like a tutorial on Philippine football as if other people are mentally challenged. You even became some feeling mod on some forum, just shows how much of a wannabe you are and how feeling you are. You're like Louie, you go around likes its some sort of mission or your duty to spread the word about Philippine football. Whatever... do whatever the fuck you like especially if it soothes your ego.
Your post says it all. I pity you. Hopefully you can get help to soothe your anger management issues.
ReplyDelete