By Lance Agcaoili
THE national men’s team tangles with a strong North Korea side, as the Azkals make their final stand in Group H of the Asian Qualifiers for the 2018 International Federation of Association Football (Fifa) World Cup Russia on Tuesday at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
The Azkals and North Koreans square off at 8 p.m.
Despite having kissed their World Cup hopes good-bye, the Azkals remain upbeat against North Korea as they try to strengthen their bid for the Asian Cup 2019.
“We’re looking forward to the game. It’s always a special game playing at home and it’s an important game for us—we want to qualify for the last round of the Asian Cup,” Head Coach Thomas Dooley told Monday’s pre-match press conference at the Century Park Hotel. “The travel this group has to go through is amazing. I’m very proud no matter what will be the outcome tomorrow [Tuesday] but obviously we want to end this tournament with a victory.”
Dooley added that his wards are still in high spirits despite yielding to Uzbekistan, 0-1, on Thursday at the Bunyodkor Stadium in Tashkent.
“We had an incredible game last week,” he said. “The team is actually different. They looked different before the Uzbekistan game last week. Now we just have to play a little bit more of football, but I know they can do it.”
The team, however, will continue to miss the main pieces of its core in skipper Phil Younghusband, Stephan Schrock, Kevin Ingreso and Stephan Palla due to injuries. OJ Porteria will be serving his suspension after a second straight red card he got from a hard tackle in Tashkent.
On the bright side, Dooley added some firepower—veteran James Younghusband and United Football League (UFL) standouts Daniel Gadia of Loyola Meralco Sparks and Michael Tanton of Kaya FC. Manny Ott and Misagh Bahadoran are also cleared from suspensions and will suit up on Tuesday.
Juani Guirado, who will step up as the team captain, also announced in the press conference that it will be his last international game with the Azkals.
Completing the team are goalie Neil Etheridge, who had an impeccable game containing the Uzbeks in Tashkent, as well as mainstays Patrick Reichelt, Javier Patino, Juan Luis Guirado, Amani Aguinaldo, Patrick Deyto, Iain Ramsay, Simone Rota, Daisuke Sato, Martin Steuble, Luke Woodland, Tomas Trigo and Dennis Villanueva, and the young players Kenshiro Daniels, Dominic del Rosario, Jim Ashley Flores, OJ Clariño and Jorrel Aristorenas.