BANGKOK, Thailand—The good and bad news came quick Wednesday for the Philippines vying in the AFF Suzuki Cup.
The availability of Neil Etheridge for the biennial tournament remains up in the air after a stunning turn of events yesterday left the Filipino-British keeper stranded in London—back with his mother club, Fulham.
Released for national team duty by Bristol Rovers, where he is currently on loan, Etheridge’s plans to suit up for the Azkals in the prestigious tournament hit another snag as he was recalled by the English Premier League club, which will loan out its second choice-keeper David Stockdale to Hull City.
“I can’t go because Fulham recalled me to be No. 2,” said the 22-year-old Etheridge, whose superb performance in the tournament two years ago was one of the keys to the Azkals’ historic semifinal appearance.
“It’s now impossible for me to come.”
Clubs are not inclined to release players because the Suzuki Cup doesn’t fall on an international date.
Azkals manager Dan Palami is now doubling efforts to gain the release of Roland Muller from German second-division club Duisburg.
Without Etheridge or Muller, the 32-year-old Sacapano, who was impressive in the 1-0 win over Singapore last Thursday in Cebu, could start against Thailand. The Bago City-born goalkeeper has the backing of Etheridge.
“It’s good to see him having his time although others see him as a backup,” Etheridge said of Sacapano, who saved a penalty kick against Singapore.
Roller coaster ride with Azkals' Euro goalkeepers but it's peak season over there and no manager/coach is going to risk injury to a valued player by releasing him for international games outside FIFA calendar dates.
ReplyDeleteAnyone who thinks Fulham are being unkind should know that their 2nd choice keeper Dave Stockwell has been loaned out to Hull City.
Another one bites the dust...
ReplyDeleteIt's time to give strong training and exposure to our homegrown goalkeepers!
ReplyDeletei didnt know this :O
ReplyDeleteJeeez... Best of luck to him at Fulham, he was get lots of valuable first-team football at Bristol. Unfortunately, everything is out of his hands
ReplyDeleteIs this a mind game or for real?
ReplyDeleteoh no.
ReplyDeletewe should start depending on our local born peeps.
sick and tired of seeing them protraying Fil-Bri; Fil-Ger etc.
You represent Azkals.
Just say that you are Fil.
Not proud of the country?
They always call themselves Filipino and are angry at people who suggest they are not
ReplyDeleteLet's write and tell the journalists and TV commentators to stop calling them Fil-Fors. Just call them Pinoys :-)
ReplyDeleteAng aarte niyo!!!!! So many of you get annoyed and from what it seems, even get offended by the tiniest of things such "Fil-[insert nationality here]", ibang klase!! Oo, mga Pinoy nga sila, pero hindi rin pwede ideny na half English, German o kung ano sila!!
ReplyDeleteSo what if Neil is not around. Weiss can always field 10 defenders and 1 GK :-) Or better yet, 11 GKs if that is possible :-)
ReplyDeleteThe strength of the GK lies on his defenders. I have my trust on our back four. Ed Sacapano's intensity will rely on his back four.
ReplyDeleteThat's just silly. With your logic, we could use Roel Gener as our GK we'd do fine. LOL!!!
Deletehe's right. what use is a goalie without his defence. LOL at u
DeleteNo LOL @ YOU!!
DeleteFirst of all, you make it seem like a team doesn't play with defenders.
Second, a GK can't fully rely on their defenders. They are still required to have certain abilities and be of a certain standard! Again, with the logic above, you could use any player who isn't a GK or even play without a GK and still expect to alright. Look at the game against Vietnam in 2010. Our defense barely did Etheridge any favors yet Etheridge bailed us out! Had that been a player like Sacapano, we would've easily lost by a big margin!
we already know a goalie has his abilities given. otherwise why should we be talking about how his defence affect his play, dumbass. LOL
DeleteYou're the fucktard!! You're just going around in circles with whatever you're trying to get at!!
DeleteNo shit the defenders will affect how a GK will play and vice versa!! But with the idiocy that you're pointing out, a GK, in this case, Sacapano can pretty much fully rely on the defenders to bail him out..... that's just a load of BS!!
Again, just look at the example of 2010 against Vietnam!! On paper, we had a good back line but it still didn't do Etheridge any favors. If that was Sacapano, we would've been thrashed!!! And it could turn out that way when the tournament starts this weekend!!!
LOL. i aint making circles with where i was going about goalkeepers and defenders. ur the one who specified sacapano's case and brought it in. otherwise, goin back to saying that a goalie's ability to block shots is tantamount to the defense's ability to prevent chances from happening is true. i played goalie at my old team. logic this logic that, u clearly got no experience in the game. LOL once again dumbass.
Deletetiwala kay sacapano, lalo na mataas confidence niya ngayon. and sabayan ng dasal. always pray for our team. goodluck men's football team!
ReplyDeleteInstead of back 4, it should be back 10 :-)
ReplyDeleteThey are called fil-brit, fil-am, fil-german etc because they ARE. Not only the blood, they do have two citizenship so what is wrong to call them fil-something? "Something" shows their first nationality, the other half of their ancestry, and the places they were born and raised. You gotta respect that.
ReplyDeletestop this rubbish on ancestry
ReplyDeleteZidane is born in Algeria
He always say he is french representing France in world cup.
He did not say he is Fre-Alg.
still pround of our basketball team.
so many local born players and still a force to be reckon in Asia.