MANILA, Philippines—Bannering the best assembled squad yet, the Philippines is ready to take on Nepal on Tuesday in a Fifa-sanctioned international friendly at home in more than a decade.
With the Fil-foreigners in full force for the Azkals, head coach Michael Weiss is expecting a taut match versus Nepal, another football country raring to get as much exposure and experience as possible.
“They [Nepal] have had very good preparation. We have to be careful about their counter-attack. It will be a tight match,” said Weiss in a pre-match press conference at the Ninoy Aquino stadium Monday.
Game time is 7 p.m. as the Philippines will have European-tested players like Jason De Jong, Rob Gier, Ray Jonsson, goal keeper Neil Etheridge, Jerry Lucena, Dennis Cagara and Paul Mulders, along with locals Chieffy Caligdong, Aly Borromeo and James and Phil Younghusband.
“We’ve watched a couple of games of Nepal. We have a strategy we would stick to. Hopefully we did our homework well,” said Gier, who is seeing action again after missing the Long Teng Cup and the friendly against Singapore.
Unlike in the Fifa World Cup qualifiers last July where tickets sold like hot pancakes, tickets for Tuesday’s clash at the Rizal Memorial Stadium are still available a day before the match via Ticketworld.
Prices are pegged at P3,000 and P2,000 for the center grandstand, P1,500 and P1,000 for the upper and lower grandstand while the center and side bleachers are at P500 and P300, respectively.
Ticketworld will also be selling tickets at the venue as early as 10 a.m. Tuesday.
“The crowd won’t be as big as the World Cup qualifiers, but we’re hoping the Filipino fans will give the team another warm welcome,” said Cathy Revilla, Philippine Football Federation’s Local Organizing Committee coordinator.
inquirer.net
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if it will be played at the Pana-ad stadium, am sure tickets will be sold-out as early as a week before the game!
ReplyDeleteNagpapakita lang yan kung sino ang mga totoong fans at sino ang mga FAIR WEATHER FANS.
ReplyDeleteAzkals starting 11 vs Nepal
ReplyDeleteEtheridge
Jonsson
Lucena
... Cagara
Borromeo
Caligdong
J Younghusband
De Jong,
Mulders
Araneta
P Younghusband
via Azkals (Philippine National Football Team)
Diba injured si Araneta? Much better if Bahadoran or Mark Hartman ang magstart. Is Mark Hartman included in the line-up for this friendly?
October 11, 2011 11:08 AM -> change topic. booo!
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