By Olmin Leyba
MANILA, Philippines - A pair of overseas training camps with tough friendlies, first in China then in Spain, will highlight the Philippine Azkals’ build-up for the 2016 Asean Football Federation (AFF) Suzuki Cup the country is co-hosting in November.
Team manager Dan Palami said a showdown with regular customer North Korea in the Chinese capital on Sept. 2 or 3 is in the offing before the Azkals head to Kyrgyzstan to face the Snow Leopards in an away friendly on Sept. 16.
“We’ll start with a friendly against DPR Korea in Beijing. We’ll be flying to Kyrgyzstan so on the way, instead of just staying over in Beijing as a layover, we’ll do a couple of days training and play a match against North Korea and from there, we go to Kyrgyzstan,” he said.
In October, he said the Azkals are looking to go to Spain and play Canada and Costa Rica.
“We have confirmed our participation and these are being finalized, we’ll have a camp in Spain. According to the organizer there, we’ll be playing against Canada and Costa Rica,” he said.
Palami expects the full team by second week of October.
“We’ll have a full month of preparation (as a full team) which includes a friendly against Kyrgyzstan at home (on Nov. 9),” he said.
The Azkals hope to capitalize on home field advantage in the tourney starting Nov. 19 to achieve a milestone triumph after semis appearances the last three editions.
good, i hope that azkal's can gain some spanish technique,though,spain mnt isn't in their finest moment right now in euro, but still I believe that spain has the exact mentality when it come's to ball possession,and some basic to offer,but,what is lacking in spanish football today in my opinion is the hustle play,it seemed that they are not compromising their health,just to avoid future injuries.
ReplyDeleteFor the North Korea match, there should be at least a backup plan to play with a top Chinese club since North Korea has this notorious reputation of cancelling friendlies at last minute.
ReplyDeleteMuch optimism for the Canada/Costa Rica match since there is an organizer aiding the azkal management to make the match happen.
Beijing is the only gateway of North Korea team to the outside world
ReplyDeleteIt will be a shame for them not to accept the challenge or rather, cancelling it to the last minute
About the travels of azkals this september, there is no direct flight from manila to beijing
It shouldn't take them long to wait for connecting flights going there
There are Beijing-Bishkek direct flights vice versa
Corrections - there are direct flights MNL-PEK
DeleteTravel isn't much of a concern since PHI MNT isn't going to mid east