By Cedelf P. Tupas
Philippine Daily Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines—For the Philippines, the long climb to football heaven—the 2014 World Cup in Brazil—begins with a duel against Sri Lanka.
Bidding to crash football’s showpiece for the first time, the Azkals were pitted against a tough Sri Lankan team in the first round of the qualifiers that will be played in a home-and-away series starting June 28.
Sri Lanka will host the first leg on June 28 with the return leg set in the Philippines five days later.
Philippine Football Federation president Mariano “Nonong” Araneta is eyeing the Rizal Memorial Stadium as a possible site for the home match.
Middle East powerhouse Kuwait awaits the survivor of the Philippines-Sri Lanka duel in the second round.
Philippine team officials, led by manager Dan Palami and German coach Michael Weiss, welcomed the pairing with Sri Lanka, which is ranked 22 places lower than the Azkals at 173 in the latest Fifa rankings.
But Palami, who was at the opening of the Suzuki Cup Under-23 Championship in Los Baños, Laguna, when the draw was conducted at the Asian Football Confederation office in Sri Lanka Wednesday, warned his side not to be complacent, saying that the Sri Lankans could not be taken for granted.
“We have our work cut out for us,” Palami told the Philippine Daily Inquirer over the phone. “We cannot look past Sri Lanka despite its ranking.”
The Philippines has never gotten past the first round of the World Cup qualifiers and Palami said the Azkals have been targeting to reach the third round in 2011.
Azkals skipper Aly Borromeo described the outcome of the draw as “positive.”
“I think it’s a team similar to Bangladesh,” said Borromeo, describing the Sri Lankans. “Physically we will be superior against them.”
The Azkals shut out Bangladesh, 3-0, in the Challenge Cup qualifiers last week in Yangon, Myanmar.
The Sri Lankans have shown their quality in the Asian level, having beaten Bangladesh and Chinese-Taipei in recent years. They also drew against former Challenge Cup champion Tajikistan, 2-2, last year.
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