Azkals’ appeal endorsed by Asian body

Peter Atencio - Manila Standard Today

THE Asian Football Confederation has endorsed an appeal by the Philippine Football Federation to the world football federation or FIFA to let two suspended players of the Azkals national football team see action in the first leg of its 2014 World Cup qualifying match with the Kuwait Al-Azraq national football team.

PFF president Mariano Araneta confirmed this yesterday after receiving an endorsement letter from the AFC.

AFC general secretary Alex Soosay yesterday wrote a letter of appeal to the FIFA, the world governing body for football, requesting that the cautions received by Aly Borromeo and Stephan Schrock be canceled.

“Pursuant to Article 37of the FIFA Disciplinary Code governing the cancellations of cautions, the AFC would like to request the FIFA Disciplinary Committee that the cautions received by players Aly Borromeo and Stephan Schrock be canceled,” wrote Soosay in his letter to FIFA director for legal affairs Marco Villiger.

Article 37 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code states that “it is at the request of a confederation that the FIFA Disciplinary Committee may cancel cautions that have not resulted in an expulsion in order to restore the balance among teams that have not played the same number of matches during the first round of a competition.”

Borromeo and Schrock received their yellow cards during the second leg of the Philippine-Sri Lanka showdown last July 3, but the two were not expelled from the game.

The Azkals, who have concluded their tuneup games in Bahrain with a pair of losses to its national under-23 Olympic team, are now in Kuwait City, getting ready for the first leg of their home-and-way encounter on Saturday at 7 p.m. (12:30 a.m., Sunday, Manila time).

They received a warm welcome from fans, with Fil-Spanish striker Angel Aldeguer Guirado reportedly mobbed at the airport by travelers and Filipino airport workers alike.

Fil-British goalkeeper Neil Etheridge, who missed the tuneup games in Bahrain, flew into Kuwait City yesterday with left back Rob Gier and Ray Jonsson to reinforce the Azkals.