Airing of Azkals' match dim

Philstar

MANILA, Philippines - Here’s sad news to diehard fans of the Azkals.

There’s a strong possibility that the Azkals’ matches in the AFC Challenge Cup group stage in Myanmar this coming week won’t be beamed live to the Philippines.

The Philippine Football Federation yesterday came out with a statement that the television coverage of the Azkals matches against Myanmar tomorrow, Bangladesh on Wednesday and Palestine on Friday will not be seen on TV.

The Azkals advanced to the group stage at the expense of Mongolia, which lost to the Filipinos, 2-0, last Feb. 9 in Bacolod, but won, 2-1, in their home turf last Monday.

By virtue of a 3-2 aggregate score, the Azkals moved on, and in Myanmar would be hoping to top their group or land second at least to make it to the AFC Challenge Cup final eight scheduled next year.

Azkals fans are definitely hoping to catch the action live on TV, as they did with the team played Indonesia twice last December, and then the Mongolians.

But there’s been problems securing the TV coverage.

“In their desire to telecast the Azkals’ matches in the Union of Myanmar in the Philippines as well to all the Filipinos in the world via TFC, Philippine Football Federation (PFF) and media partner ABS-CBN have been continuously communicating with the Myanmar Football Federation (MFF) and other agencies since March 3.

“As of the end of office hours Friday in Yangon, however, MRTV, the Myanmar government’s television arm and official coveror of the football matches, has not yet secured the required permit to beam the game live via satellite. The next update from MRTV is expected Monday morning.

“If a live satellite feed would not be possible, the PFF and ABS-CBN shall exhaust all means to secure a tape of the coverage and play it back at the earliest possible time,” the PFF statement said.