Karl Decena, InterAKTV
The Philippine national men’s football team is eyeing a friendly match against the Under-23 side of Malaysia as the Azkals’ last game before playing in the 2014 Asian Football Confederation Challenge Cup qualifiers in Manila this Month.
Azkals coach Hans Michael Weiss said that he is hopeful that the match against the defending Southeast Asian Games champion will push through, especially since the proposed friendly against Hong Kong has been ruled out due to scheduling concerns.
“We discussed the possibility playing the Under-23 of Malaysia. We are now going to see which date is feasible,” Weiss told InterAKTV. “I’m hoping very, very much on this game.”
Weiss said that a match against the U-23 squad of Malaysia will be a good test for the Azkals ahead of the Challenge Cup qualifiers. Malaysia won the past two editions of the SEA Games football competition, and is a favorite to win again this year’s edition of the regional meet.
“It’s a fantastic opportunity to play a very strong team, which is very good,” Weiss said. “I can only recommend to trust this opportunity because it’s very valuable for the players.”
If the match pushes through, it could also be a welcome development for the diplomatic relations between the two ASEAN nations that has been affected by a standoff between Filipinos and Malaysian troops in Sabah, a territory disputed by the Philippines, through the Sultanate of Sulu, and Malaysia over the years.
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 top team from the group, as well as the two best second-placed teams from the 20-team qualifiers played across Asia, will advance to the 2014 Challenge Cup proper in Maldives, where the Azkals aim to surpass their third place finish in the same tournament two years ago.
I hope pff stay away from issues.less talk less issue
ReplyDeleteWhy not invite the senior side? Good grief.
ReplyDeleteThey are playing Saudi Arabia as preparations before Asian Cup qualifiers
DeleteThen invite someone else. Nothing to gain from playing under 23 sides. If we were as crap as East Timor I'd understand. But 3rd in the last Suzuki Cup yet playing against Malaysia under 23? Crap!
DeleteHow many goals did we score last suzuki cup?
DeleteWe are still crap unless we park the bus in front of the goal like what we always do.
Even loas scored more goals than our foreign fil
Why not a Match against Afghanistan ( after her matches in Laos )or a Team who is finished
ReplyDeletewith the Qualifikation ?
Friendlies are for preparations for AFC Challenge Cup , why would Afghanistan be interested in playing after they finished their qualifiers ? Their foreign based players have already left for Europe then
DeleteSomeone tell the national team management or just anyone in the PFF to invite Yemen.
ReplyDeleteThey have an Asian Cup qualifier against Malaysia in Malaysia on the 23rd. Get them to go to Manila for a friendly around the 17th or 18th before making their way to Malaysia! Plus, the Philippines has never played Yemen before, I'm sure it'd be a good match!
Malaysia are doing the same, except it's against Saudi Arabia as the Saudis also have an Asian Cup qualifier but against Indonesia in Jakarta!
The problem with the PFF is that they're way too selective with the opponents they try to invite! It's as if they have this small list of teams they feel are suitable opponents and won't really consider anything else outside it. If this means they invite the U23's of one of the nations in their "list" or a decent enough club, they'll do it rather than going with a senior NT.
Yeah, lets play football instead of fighting each other over Sabah :-)
ReplyDeleteI think the PFF really wanted to dump the coach that is why we don't have any good friendly in our sleeves so dont expect so much on this CC tournament....
ReplyDelete