Match on Thursday
(Rizal Memorial Stadium)
6:30 p.m. – Philippines vs Myanmar
IT’S TIME for the Philippine men’s football team’s redemption tour in the Asean Championship-Mitsubishi Electric Cup.
The Pinoy booters, who have failed to get past the group stage of the last editions of the biennial meet, take the first step tonight in a Group B opening assignment on the familiar grounds of Rizal Memorial Stadium against Myanmar.
“It’s our first game of the tournament so it’s most important, we want to set the tone in a positive way,” said goalkeeper Patrick Deyto ahead of the 6:30 p.m. fixture.
“We haven’t had home games recently so it’s a good opportunity for us to showcase how we’ve developed the last few camps. We want to really put on a good performance tomorrow (tonight).”
The squad formerly known as the Azkals last played at good old Rizal last March in the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers in a 0-5 loss to Iraq and spent the succeeding months on the road for competition, friendlies and camps.
The Filipinos also aim to give Spaniard Albert Capellas a winning debut in the Asean showpiece. Mr. Capellas assumed head coaching chores only last September and led the side to a 3-0 upset of Tajikistan in the King’s Cup versus setbacks to Thailand (1-3 in King’s Cup) and Hong Kong (1-3 in an away friendly).
“It will be my first game at home and we hope to surround it with a lot of people. It’s very exciting for me to play in the Mitsubishi Electric Cup and play at home and try to win the match,” he said.
Mr. Capellas assembled a 26-man crew led by veterans Mr. Deyto, Patrick Reichelt, Amani Aguinaldo and overseas-based Zico Bailey, Michael Baldisimo, Michael Kempter, Christian Rontini and Sandro Reyes.
Myanmar is out to spoil the Philippines’ plans and score a big bounceback from its painful 0-1 defeat to Indonesia last Monday in its own backyard.
“I expect a team that is aggressive, one that will try to be quick on the touch and bring the ball in front as quickly as possible,” said Mr. Capellas of the visitors. — Olmin Leyba
