By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter
THE 30th Southeast Asian Games campaign of the Philippine Men’s Under-22 team begins today in a group play match against Cambodia at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium.
Set for 8 p.m., the Philippines looks to set its football bid on the right note in Group A where it is also lumped with Malaysia, Myanmar and Timor-Liste apart from Cambodia.
For the SEA Games, the U-22 team is made up of some of the top young talents in the country, boosted by two veteran members of the Philippine Azkals, namely Stephan Schrock and Amani Aguinaldo.
In the SEA Games, teams are allowed to put in a maximum of two overage players in their U-22 rosters.
Messrs. Schrock, 33, and Aguinaldo, 24, both play for top local football club Ceres-Negros FC and recently played with the Azkals in away matches in the joint World Cup and Asian Cup qualifiers.
Joining the two in the SEA Games team are Anthony Pinthus — Kosova Zurich (Switzerland), Michael Asong — San Beda University, Justin Baas — AZ Alkmaar (Netherlands), Elias Mordal Suerti — Brattvag IL (Norway), Mar Diano — Mendiola FC 1991, Marco Casambre — Chainat Hornbill FC (Thailand), Jordan Jarvis — Resources Capital FC (Hong Kong), Griffin McDaniel — California Baptist University (USA), Christian Rontini — Sangiovanesse FA (Italy), and Yrik Gallantes — Gala Fairydean Rovers (Scotland).
Also part of the squad are Pocholo Bugas — Far Eastern University, Jerome Marzan — Mendiola FC 1991, Dylan De Bruycker — Ceres-Negros FC, Dennis Chung — Zehlendorf (Germany), Troy Limbo — Sunderland RCA (England), Chima Uzoka — Global Makati FC, and Jarvey Gayoso — Ateneo de Manila University.
The Philippine U-22 team has been preparing for the biennial regional sporting meet since the middle of the year and competed in the Copa Paulino Alcantara as part of its preparation.
“The team has been training well. It joined in the recent Copa Paulino Alcantara to hone their skills and game and it made a good impression. The staff is very competent and it motivates the team well. First target is to make it to the semifinals and take it from there. Hopefully the fans will come out and support the team,” said Philippine Football Federation President Nonong Araneta when asked for his thoughts on the U-22 team’s chances.
Also playing today are Malaysia versus Myanmar in Group A in Rizal at 4 p.m. and Vietnam against Brunei in Group B at 4 p.m. at the Imus Grandstand and Track Oval in Cavite.
Bracketed in Group B along with Vietnam and Brunei are defending champion Thailand, Indonesia, Laos and Singapore.
In the SEA Games, teams will play each other once in their respective groupings with the top two advancing to the crossover knockout semifinals.
In the last edition of the Games in 2017, the Philippines failed to move past group play, finishing with a record of two wins and three losses for six points.
PHISGOC MAKES CLARIFICATION
Meanwhile, the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee apologized and made clarifications over some problems encountered by arriving SEA Games football teams at the weekend.
Four teams — Thailand, Cambodia, Timor-Leste and Myanmar — all took to social media to share the inconvenience they experienced upon arrival on Saturday, which ranged from slow accreditation process, slow immigration clearing, problems in transportation and transfer, traffic and accommodation.
In a statement on Sunday, PHISGOC said they have taken note of the issue and vowed to work on the problems.
“We sincerely apologize to our athlete guests from Timor-Leste, Myanmar and Cambodia for the inconvenience caused to them by the confusion regarding their transportation and hotel arrangements. While PHISGOC strives to ensure proper coordination of the arrival details, airport welcome and transportation provisions of all international teams to their respective assigned hotels, we acknowledge our shortcomings in this particular incident and vow to do better,” the PHISGOC statement read.
It nonetheless made some clarification.
“For the information of the public, the confusion with the Timor-Leste football team happened when some of their members were initially brought to the Century Hotel along with the rest of the team. However, the Timor-Leste coordinator pointed out that some were actually billeted at the nearby Hotel Jen. PHISGOC was able to arrange the delegates’ shuttle to the other hotel,” it said.
“As to the Cambodian football team, their change in arrival details was relayed late to the PHISGOC Games Services Department. Instead of the arrival time initially relayed to PHISGOC, the Cambodian team arrived in NAIA at 4 a.m. Transportation was immediately provided, but since their hotel rooms were not yet available because the standard check-in time is 2 p.m., PHISGOC requested that the team be allowed to wait at an air-conditioned private hotel conference room with tables and chairs where the members could rest and feel comfortable while waiting for their rooms,” it added.