MANILA, Philippines – Members of the Azkals Philippine national football team have landed on Ulan Bator, Mongolia, 2 days before their AFC Challenge Cup match against the Mongolian Blue Wolves.
The team arrived in Mongolia around 3 a.m. Sunday morning.
The Azkals went direct to the Palace Hotel in Ulan Bator.
Although exhausted, the players said they are thankful they were able to leave Japan.
They said they took buses and trains just to get to the Tokyo Narita Aiport for their flight to Beijing, then to Ulan Bator.
"Grabe iyong journey talaga. It's been a long journey," said Azkals captain Aly Borromeo.
"Iba, iba talaga. It's a different experience. Sobrang pagod kami. We were carrying boxes across the hall of Japan," Phil Younghusband said.
The Azkals trained in Japan, which was hit by a 8.9-magnitude earthquake.
If their arrival in Ulan Bator got delayed, they risked postponing their game against the Blue Wolves on Tuesday.
The Azkals will play amid freezing conditions in Ulan Bator, where the temperature has reportedly dropped minus-18 degress Celsius and where ice has formed on the ground.
Simon Greatwich catches up
Simon Greatwich, who traveled way back from New York, has also met with the rest of his teammates.
Greatwich was supposed to train with the team in Gotemba City in Japan.
However, because of the massive earthquake, the player's flight was diverted to Osaka.
Greatwich then had to spend the night in the airport, and in the morning took another flight out to Incheon in South Korea en route to Mongolia.
"It was very very stressful for the past 24, 48 hours... I spent the night rough on the floor in the airport," he said.
Meanwhile, Azkals Jason Sabio who was also stranded in a separate Japan airport last Friday, is also bound to Mongolia .
He will will fly to Ulan Bator via Beijing, China. – With a report from Dyan Castillejo, ABS-CBN News
The Philippines-Mongolia match will be shown LIVE March 15, 12 noon on Studio 23, with a replay at 7p.m. The match will also be shown 3 p.m. on BALLS SkyCable Ch. 34.
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