Football Philippines

By Cedelf P. Tupas (Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines—The Under-23 Philippine Azkals may have landed in the weaker group of the Southeast Asian Games football competition, but that doesn’t mean making the semifinals for the first time in 20 years will be a cakewalk for the national squad in Indonesia.

The Filipinos face Vietnam on November 3 at the start of Group B action at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta.

Also in the Azkals’ group are Myanmar, Laos, Timor Leste and Brunei.

“A lot of people think that it’s seemingly easy,” said Palami of their bracket. “I think what we should realize is that teams like Timor and Laos have actually built very good youth programs for the past few years.”

Azkals coach Michael Weiss echoed Palami’s sentiment, saying that the draw only looks “favorable” at first sight.

“We cannot just thrash Laos and Myanmar like there’s no tomorrow,” Weiss said.

“The first match will determine where we will go. I hope we can play with a compact and aggressive style against Vietnam.”

The Philippines will actually be seeing action in the SEA Games football competition for the first time since 2005 when it won one match and lost two games.

The country has not reached the semifinals of the event since 1991 when the biennial meet was held in Manila.

Palami said they are still working on including goalkeeper Neil Etheridge on the SEA Games squad, after the Filipino-British goalkeeper was omitted from the initial list over doubts of his availability for the tournament.

By Cedelf P. Tupas (Philippine Daily Inquirer)

The Philippines landed in a “favorable” group in the Southeast Asian Games football competition next month with the Under-23 Azkals ending up in the company of 2009 losing finalist Vietnam and semifinalist Laos.

Myanmar and lightweights Timor Leste and Brunei are also in Group B together with the Philippines, which is seeking a first men’s football medal in the biennial meet in Indonesia.

Defending champion Malaysia found itself in the tournament’s “Group of Death” with Thailand—which won seven straight titles until 2009, Singapore, Cambodia and host Indonesia.

“We’re lucky we have this favorable draw,” said Philippine Football Federation president Mariano “Nonong” Araneta. “There’s a good chance we can compete in this group. We hope to be in the semifinals.”

Though the final lineup has yet to be revealed, senior team members Jason de Jong, Manny Ott, Mark Hartmann and Matthew Hartmann are already in the short list of the Under-23 side that will also be coached by German Michael Weiss.

Other Europe-based standouts like goalkeeper Roland Muller and Patrick Hinrichsen from Germany, Jeff Christiaens from Belgium and Carli de Murga from Spain will also beef up the squad, together with local-based players Neckson Leonora, Raymark Fernandez and Lemuel Unabia.

The Under-23 side will undergo a week-long camp in Japan late this month as part of its preparation for the SEA Games.

Meanwhile, the Philippines reaped the dividends of playing more matches in October, moving up eight places to 158 in the latest rankings released by the International Football Federation (FIFA).

Boosted by victories over Macau in the Long Teng Cup in Kaohsiung, Taiwan and higher-ranked Nepal in a friendly at the Rizal Memorial Stadium, the Philippines collected 127 points in a strong finish to the year where it qualified for the AFC Challenge Cup main tournament.

“We expected to move up, but we should strive to be higher in the rankings,” said Araneta, noting that Bangladesh, a team the Azkals handily defeated, 3-0, is even ranked better than the team at 141.

The Azkals got the bulk of their points for their 4-nil hammering of Nepal, which was ranked 136 last month.

Araneta said the Azkals are better than their rankings indicate. The Fifa rankings take into consideration not only the result of the past month, but the overall performance of the national team since 2008.

“We deserve to be higher. But we are taking it one step at a time,” Araneta added.

By Olmin Leyba (The Philippine Star)

MANILA, Philippines – With the Azkals’ 2011 campaign already done with, the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) shifts its resources to preparing the under-23 team for its medal quest in the 26th Southeast Asian Games, which blasts off in less than three weeks in Indonesia.

From the Azkals, coach Michael Weiss goes full-time to honing up and calling the shots for the Philippines U-23 side, hoping the mix of Fil-foreign and homegrown booters will make great strides from a training camp in Gotemba, Japan next week.

“There’s really no time to rest. We have to resume training with more intensity (for the Under-23),” said Weiss, who inserted some mainstays of the U-23 team to the seniors crew (Azkals) that placed second in the recent Long Teng Cup in Chinese-Taipei.

“With the National (Seniors) team having the Long Teng Cup, the under-23 is a little bit behind. Hopefully, we can catch up in the Japan camp,” he said.

The Under-23 side will be in Gotemba, Japan from October 23-31, to train in the same facilities where the Azkals held camp last March in the buildup for their AFC Challenge Cup playoff match with Mongolia.

Weiss said they are arranging tuneup matches with strong Japanese university teams to prepare his wards for the SEA Games in Indonesia, where football’s schedule was moved to November 3 from its original November 7 kickoff.

Three recruits based abroad, Fil-Spanish Carli de Murga, Fil-German Roland Muller and Fil-Belgian Jeffrey Christiaens, are still uncertain to join the Japan camp, according to team coordinator Jojie Ronda, but have given their commitment to play in the SEAG.

From Japan, the team will return to Manila on Oct. 31 then leave for Jakarta the following day.

Fil-Dutch Azkal Jason de Jong, Fil-German Manuel Ott, Neckson Leonora, Raymark Fernandez, David Basa and Joshua Beloya are among the other mainstays of the team.

“I think we can field an interesting squad to the SEA Games,” said Weiss. “We hope we can connect very well together in Japan in camp and go from there to Indonesia.”

BY REUBEN TERRADO, GMA News

The Philippine Under-23 Men’s football team will hold a training camp in Japan for the final stage of their preparation for the 2011 Southeast Asian Games in Indonesia.

National coach Michael Weiss said they will leave for Japan on October 24, Monday, and will head straight to Indonesia on November 2 one day before the opening of the SEA Games football competitions at the Gelora Sriwijaya Stadium on November 3 in Jakarta.

“It will be shorter because originally, we will be in Japan until November 4. So I hope the players from overseas will take notice of the schedule change and leave as soon as possible,” Weiss said.

The SEA Games football tournament was supposed to start on November 7, four days earlier than the official opening of the Games on the 11th but organizers were forced to move the opening kick-off on November 3 because of the unavailability of the football stadium in Palembang.

All football games were also moved in Jakarta with the Senayan Sports Complex as one of the venues.

The U-23 team trained with the senior members of the Philippine Azkals during their build-up for their recent tournament which included the Long Teng Cup.

“We have prepared the team for a longer period with the seniors team and we have given them exposure in the Long Teng Cup,” said Weiss.

The senior Azkals are currently taking a break so Weiss’ focus is now on the U-23 team which he will also be coaching.

Jason De Jong, Manny Ott, brothers Matthew and Mark Hartmann and Iloilo-based Neckson Leonora are among the top players included in the U-23 national pool.

The Philippines will compete in the football competitions of the SEA Games for the first time since 2005. — JVP, GMA News