Philippine national men’s football team veteran Chris Greatwich announced Tuesday that he won’t be suiting up for the Azkals anytime soon.
Greatwich said he did not join the Azkals training tour in Bahrain this month as he wants to “take a break” from national team duty and spend more time with his family.
“Last week I met with Coach (Thomas) Dooley and told him I would be taking a break from International football for a while,” Greatwich wrote in an Instagram post.
“It has been the greatest privilege to play for Philippines for the past 10 years but for now I like to spend more time with my family, especially my baby Nico.
“Thanks to all the players, staff and fans who’ve supported us over the years and I wish the team the best of luck in the future.”
Greatwich, 31, has seven international goals under his belt, almost all of them memorable as he played hero many times for the Azkals. He was instrumental in the team’s Cinderella run to the ASEAN Football Federation Suzuki Cup semifinals in 2010 that catapulted the squad to national consciousness.
The Filipino-English midfielder also scored the winning goal in an epic semifinal win with Maldives in the Asian Football Confederation Challenge Cup last year that brought the Azkals to the tournament final for the first time.
Greatwich is currently playing for Kaya FC in the United Football League.
develop team cohesion, azkals should be aware of asean way of playing,flick,speed,short pass, and heading accuracy.
ReplyDeleteOur Philippine Team needs a "style of play" like the Spanish identity (tiki-taka) or German offensive thrust. These are all the job of PFF to establish our own brand of football which is suited for us Pinoys and not the English way of 'long balls'. These should be implemented by PFF starting from the Grassroots. But if only they are open to ideas and not only focuses on Men's team..
ReplyDeleteI don't see anything worng with long balls as long as they reach the target players
DeleteBut lately most AFC and AFF teams were amazed on how Philippines played an un-ASEAN style of football, Indonesia was even defeated 4-nil because of that
They should focus on hitting the back of the net more, more Etheridge style of goal keeping, and staying focused
lets' just see what happens if they have an advantage with their long balls play and if they can carry it through the WC qualification stage.
DeleteIf you have been watching their recent games under dooley they rarely do long balls unlike when weiss was still their coach
DeleteThey focus on short passes but still they get intercepted by opponents 40% of the time
Dooley's 4-3-1-2 formation isn't working against the likes of Thailand
ReplyDeletePerhaps malaysia's basic 4-4-2 formation would make a difference
4-3-1-2 two goalkeepers
DeletePlease visit
ReplyDeletehttp://arsenalindiablog.blogspot.in/