MANILA, Philippines – Following their fairy-tale run in the AFC Challenge Cup, the Philippine Azkals have set their sights on a new goal: reaching the AFF Suzuki Cup finals.
The Azkals made Philippine football history by finishing third in the Challenge Cup in Nepal.
They have set a higher goal by shooting for a finals finish in the Suzuki Cup.
“We have the AFF Suzuki Cup coming in and we hope that we do better from the semifinals that we ended up last time,” Azkals team manager Dan Palami told ABS-CBN’s Dyan Castillejo following their arrival from Nepal.
The Philippine Azkals were suddenly noticed by a basketball-crazy nation after stamping a pivotal win over defending champion Vietnam and barged into the semifinals of the 2010 Suzuki Cup in Indonesia.
They duplicated the same feat in the 2012 Challenge Cup by nabbing a semifinal slot through successive wins over former champions India and Tajikistan.
The 9th edition of the AFF Suzuki Cup will take place from November 24 to December 22.
By virtue of its semifinals finish in 2010, the Philippines is already qualified for the finals group.
Other countries already included in the group are Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and defending champion Malaysia.
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Laughable! Palami yet again loves yapping on as if the national team is his like a club team! In terms of setting targets, its always him. Calling up players that should be called up, it definitely looks like its his call. Talking to the media about the team, its him when it should be the coach (Weiss).
ReplyDeleteSetting a target of reaching the final like I said, is just laughable to say the least! We overachieved in 2010 it doesn't mean we're favorites or anything like that to reach the semis let alone the final. We're gonna be playing better teams than the Challenge Cup where we reached third! And what he's done will only create unnecessary hype! If they fail to reach that target (or should I say WHEN they fail to reach that target), all of the people who are anti-Weiss and people with crab mentality will start coming out with, "he's shit", "this and that should have been done", and all that shit as if they know better!! It's ridiculous!