By Cedelf P. Tupas
MANAMA, Bahrain—The onus is now on striker Javier Patino to declare if he’s still willing to play for the national team.
Philippines coach Thomas Dooley wants commitment from the Fil-Spanish striker, following his absence in the Azkals’ first training camp of the year here.
Dooley’s patience seems to be running thin as Patino again begged off from joining camp due to personal matters.
He also missed the AFC Challenge Cup and AFF Suzuki Cup last year due to club commitments in Thailand and injuries.
“Javier would have been perfect for us,” Dooley said. “But we don’t know if he still wants to play for us.”
Patino, who has two goals from three matches with the national team, just moved from Buriram United in Thailand to Henan Jianye in the Chinese Super League. He scored twice in his debut for Henan.
Two letters to Henan
The Philippine Football Federation twice sent letters to Henan to push for Patino’s release and even asked the Chinese Football Association to intervene. Patino ruled himself out of the camp, however.
“I don’t know what happened to Javier. It looks like he doesn’t want to play for the Philippines,” said Dooley on the eve of the clash with Bahrain.
“If that’s the case, he has to make an announcement with the federation so we don’t call him up again. It’s not good for the team when we don’t know he’s coming or not.”
Dooley said he expects midfielder Fil-German midfielder Stephan Schrock to be back in the team before the World Cup Qualifiers start in June.
Prospects like Stephen Palla, Iain Ramsay and Luke Woodland are also expected to join the side before the start of the campaign.
Austrian international David Alaba, whose mother is from the Philippines, recommended Palla, a defender, to the Azkals, according to Azkals manager Dan Palami.
England youth player
Woodland, a former England youth player, was receptive to the idea of playing for the team following a meeting with Azkals skipper Rob Gier recently.
Ramsay, who plays for Melbourne City in the A-League, is in the process of renewing his Filipino passport.
“We’re optimistic that these players will suit up for the Azkals and represent the country well,” said Palami.
Read more: http://sports.inquirer.net/177071/dooley-wants-patino-commitment#ixzz3VuQTR6de
patino is not committed since from the first time, move on. patino is only looking frogskin(dollars). get that 3 muskeeters. it seems that philippine team is a trend for any overseas prospect,few are committed to represent the country. poor football in our country still needs time and support from different groups,if we love football here, unity is the answer,create football culture in this country ,after all ,it will draw a large success in spiral progression.
ReplyDeletepatino is good but if his heart is not into playing for us then forget about it. we deserve better.
ReplyDeleteI think patino only used his phl passport to play get lucrative contracts with asian clubs because of the 3+1 foreigner rule.
ReplyDeleteThat's exactly what i believe. In fact i started to suspect it since his Buriram days. It was strange how Buriram could manage to successfully refuse to release an international player even during FIFA days and how Patino always gets injured whenever we called him up and the next week appears healthy in his club match.
DeleteAnd you just hit the bull's eye. Well we never know the truth cuz we can't read his mind, but what you said is the most plausible way to explain both why he initially joined our NT and why he doesn't give a shit anymore. It's true, the 3+1 rule (in some leagues it's 3+2 or 4+2 though) is a huge advantage for players from AFC countries to get better offers from Asian clubs.
Also thought of the same thing. In a hurry to get PH passport before then in just 2 wks after playing for NT, got a contract with Buriram. How about that?
DeleteI think we need to be strict in giving a PH passport to any filipino based abroad player.
Deleteas long as they have filipino heritage, they can apply. we cant stop them from doing that whether or not the application is linked to football or not.
DeleteI like our 'foreign-based' players (I don't like the term 'fil-for') as they surely add quality to our NT, but I don't like what Patino is doing (if accusations are right).
Deletehe is wasting the call-up slot and making the team wait...
DeleteAzkals doesn't need Patiño. Get fully committed overseas based pinoys/halfpinoys. In times of need like Suzuki Cup or fifa match days where was he? Too many excuses. I don't think buriram or henan couldn't release him. There is just no commitment in him at all. With or without him azkals should keep playing. When philippines sometime become a powerhouse team don't welcome him back
ReplyDelete