Azkals' Challenge Cup qualifiers lineup "will be a tight race" says coach Weiss

Karl Decena, InterAKTV

The Philippine national men’s football team might be enjoying the availability of its foreign-based players for the 2014 Asian Football Confederation Challenge Cup qualifiers this month, but Azkals coach Hans Michael Weiss said that the squad won’t entirely rely on them.


In fact, Weiss said that he might only choose one goalkeeper between Neil Etheridge and Roland Mueller to possibly give a slot to Eduard Sacapaño, who stepped up in the absence of the two foreign-based keepers during the Azkals’ semifinal run in the ASEAN Football Federation Suzuki Cup last year.

“Because I think I will only choose one keeper (between Etheridge and Mueller), we have to see,” Weiss said. “It will be a tight race to make it to the best 23.”

Unlike in their Suzuki Cup campaign, the Azkals will enjoy the presence of their foreign-based members in the their upcoming tournament. For the Challenge Cup qualifiers, clubs are obliged to release their players who are called up for national team duty as it falls on FIFA international match dates.

Weiss said that he organized the week-long training sessions in the past few months to help the locally-based players, who play in the United Football League, keep in pace with their foreign-based counterparts.


“I want to avoid that there will be disharmony with the team because players are not fit,” Weiss said. “I have my doubts because the level of the league is not yet in the level compared to Malaysia, compared to Thailand, compared to Indonesia.”

“We’re going to really have that ball – tighter, stronger and more solid and more consistent than what we did in the past rather than sitting back too deep so players must be in top shape and top fit.”

Weiss said that he is also looking for “young and fresh talents” which will benefit the squad in the future, especially that some members of the national team pool are also eligible for the country’s Under-23 team which will compete in the Southeast Asian Games later this year.

The German coach assured that the players who will make the cut will be the best ones who will represent the country in the only major tournament the Azkals will play this year.

“The ones who deserve it, they are there,” Weiss said.

The Azkals will face Brunei Darussalam on March 22, Cambodia on March 24 and Turkmenistan on March 26 in Group E of the Challenge Cup qualifiers at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium in Manila.


The winner of each group and the two best second-placed countries in the 20-team qualifiers will earn a slot in the 2014 Challenge Cup proper in Maldives, where the Azkals look to surpass their third-place finish in the same tournament last year. The winner of the Challenge Cup qualifies for the prestigious Asian Cup in 2015.

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