THERE’S plenty of promise in the Philippine men’s football team that will represent the country in in two matches in the 2018 Fifa World Cup qualifiers next month.
The Philippine Football Federation (PFF) on Monday announced arguably the strongest 23-man Azkals roster yet composed of overseas-based returnees and recruits apart from the local-based core.
Neil Etheridge, Javier Patiño, and Stephan Schrock are back, while Kevin Ingreso, Stephan Palla, Iain Ramsay, and Luke Woodland are expected to make their anticipated debuts.
They will all link up with the Manila-based standouts led by Phil Younghusband and skipper Rob Gier as the Filipino booters host Bahrain in the qualifiers opener on June 11 at the Philippine Stadium in Bulacan, before flying to neutral ground, facing Yemen on June 16 at the Qatar Sports Club in Doha.
Chris and Simon Greatwich, Paul Mulders, and James Younghusband, all part of the 2014 Suzuki Cup roster, missed the cut. Chris Greatwich announced he was taking a break from national duty last March.
See the full roster below:
AGUINALDO, Amani Manuel
BAHADORAN, Misagh
DANIELS, Kenshiro Michael
DEYTO, Patrick Phillip
ETHERIDGE, Neil Leonard
GIER, Robert James
GUIRADO, Juan Luis
HARTMANN, Mark Andrew
INGRESO, Kevin
LUCENA, Jerry Ruben
OTT, Manuel
PALLA, Stephan
PATIÑO, Javier
RAMSAY, Iain
REICHELT, Patrick
ROTA, Simone
SATO, Daisuke
SCHROCK, Stephan Markus
STEUBLE, Martin Markus
TRIGO, Tomas Angel
VILLANUEVA, Dennis
WOODLAND, Luke
YOUNGHUSBAND, Philip James
Source: Karlo Sacamos of Spin.ph
