Before this week ends, the Philippine Azkals will have a coach that will lead the young team against Vietnam in a friendly on December 14 and against Cambodia, when the AFF Mitsubishi Electric begins on December 20, 2022.
In a quick chat with The Designated Kit Man, Dan Palami, team manager of the Philippine Azkals, said the new Azkals’ coach will be arriving today, while his assistant is already in the country. He flew into the Philippines yesterday.
Palami said the new coach will be formally introduced soon and his assistant will take over the training sessions of the squad starting today and lead them for the next phase of the preparations.
Palami refused to reveal who the new coach and his assistant are. He, however, gave several hints. The coaches are relatively young compared to previous mentors of the team. One of them was born in the early 80s.
“They worked in the Barcelona Academy before. They have coached professional clubs as well, so we are okay. What I want to achieve and what I want to have is a young motivated coach that will complement the squad that we have because it’s composed of young players,” Palami said.
He also added that he is quite happy with the way the players are performing in the training camp right now.
“These young players have been quite a revelation in terms of their pace and how quick they move the ball around. We expect that enthusiasm, determination, speed and athleticism will offset the lack of experience in some players,” Palami quipped.
Palami likewise said that several foreign-based Azkals will be arriving in the next few days to join the camp at Rizal Memorial Stadium. The team will also make its first cuts on who will remain in the camp.
“There will be a couple, who will be coming in starting next week. But even now, we will be trimming the number of players who are in the pool. Compared to the first week where the emphasis was to get the players back to their competitive levels, the next phase will focus on tactics. Now that we have a regular coach, we can now move into the tactical aspects which will necessitate the cutting down the list of those who are in training,” Palami explained.
Palami said they will use the tuneup game against Vietnam to know the readiness of the team. He said he can’t blame the fans for expecting much from the new generation of Azkals.
“The friendly against Vietnam is meant to gauge ourselves prior to the actual group stages. And I think that even in that game, both teams will not go full throttle, because we want to preserve the players for the actual tournament. We also want to avoid injuries and be ready for the first day of competitions,” he added.
Regarding the team captain position of the team, Palami said he would like Stephan Schrock to lead the team simply because of what he has done in the past few months in leading the young Azkals Development Team (ADT) in the domestic league and his impact on the young players in the training pool right now.
“I’ve seen how he has led the ADT squad and how well he has guided the young players. I think it will be a good fit for the team. If he does what he is doing in ADT, he would best suit the role. Moreover, this will be his transition from player to coach. Even as a player, we can still see his passion, he can still make a positive impact on the team,” Palami said.
While the team is young and inexperienced, I would like to share and support Palami’s optimism that the Azkals are capable of pulling off surprises in the tournament. Things will be difficult, which is a fact, but the team has to restart now and reboot somewhere, somehow. A good show in the Mitsubishi Electric Cup might be the spark the team needs to move forward and reclaim its mighty bark and bite.
https://manilastandard.net/sports/314283700/the-new-azkals-coach-and-the-virtue-cycle.html
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