By Olmin Leyba, The Philippine Star
MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Azkals team is leaving no stone unturned even if they feel they have “more than a fair chance” against Sri Lanka in their upcoming 2014 Fifa World Cup Asian Qualifiers first round match up.
Azkals team manager Dan Palami said during yesterday’s PSA Forum that the squad is preparing to form the best possible lineup and has set an intensive training program highlighted by a camp in Germany for their June 28 away game and July 3 home game against Sri Lanka.
He said the new additions are Fil-Danish fullback Dennis Cagara, Fil-Germans Stefan Schrock and Michael Ott, and two Fil-Ams from the US, whom co-skipper Aly Borromeo said could well be starters for the team. Fil-Danish midfielder Jerry Lucena and Fil-Spanish striker Angel Guirado, who both suited up in the Azkals’ AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers campaign, will be back, according to Palami.
The Azkals will begin training on May 9-23 at the Alabang Country Club, then head off to Cebu City for a team building camp on May 25-31, and hold practice at the Rizal Memorial pitch. They will hold camp in Duren, Germany for two weeks (June 12-26) with five tuneup games with second and third division German clubs up, before heading to Colombo for the first leg.
Palami said the Azkals also tapped Fulham FC’s Swiss goalkeeping coach Pascal Zuberbuhler to beef up the coaching staff and help train the goalies.
“I think with the way the team’s being formed, the quality of players coming in and the training we’ve prepared, we we will have more than a fair chance against Sri Lanka,” Palami said.
He reported they’ve been studying tapes of Sri Lanka’s latest games and felt good about the Azkals’ chances.
“Sri Lanka is better than Bangladesh,” Palami said, referring to the Bangladeshis whom Phl beat 3-0 in the Challenge Cup. “But we will also have a stronger lineup than when we played Bangladesh. There will be a 150 percent improvement in our lineup.”
No comments:
Post a Comment