Fil-German to replace Etheridge

A NEW member of the Philippine Azkals national football team will most likely take the place of Fil-British goalkeeper Neil Etheridge when the team sees action in the Long Ten Cup next month.

Roland Mueller, a Fil-German goalie, who plays for MSV Duisburg in the second division Bundesliga league, is coming over this weekend to start training for the Azkals.

Mueller is one of two newcomers, whom coach Hans Michael Weiss is tapping for the Azkals. Mueller will be available for team inspection when the Azkals resume training in the coming week.
The Azkals will have joint practices with the national under-23 team, which is now in the final phases of its tryouts.

After the Azkals lost their home-and-away encounters with Kuwait in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers, Etheridge informed the coaching staff that he may not be available for the Long Ten Cup and the Southeast Asian Games due to his commitments with Fullham.

Read more at Manila Standard

Vietnam turns down Azkals' invite for a friendly

Southeast Asian powerhouse Vietnam has also turned down the invitation of the Philippine Football Federation for a friendly duel with the Azkals on October 9 at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila.

PFF president Mariano "Nonong" Araneta said he plans to invite Bangladesh-a team the Azkals defeated, 3-nil, in the AFC Challenge Cup last March, but are ranked 16 places higher than the Philippines at 146 in the Fifa rankings.

Araneta said holding a friendly at a Fifa international date like October 9 is the only way to ensure that all players, especially those based in Europe, will be released by their clubs.

Among the Europe-based players in the national team are Stephan Schrock, who plays for Greuther Furth in the German second division; Neil Etheridge, the second-choice keeper of Fulham in the English Premiere League; and Paul Mulders, who plays for ADO Den Haag in the Dutch Eredivise.

"This is still part of our build-up for the Challenge Cup next year," Araneta said. "We have to prepare our team for that tournament, and one of the ways to do it is by having them play together in international matches."

Read more at Yahoo!

Southeast Asian Games-bound Azkals plan Japan training

The Phillipines Football Federation (PFF) is eyeing Japan as a possible training location for the national under-23 team that will see action in the Southeast Asian Games in Indonesia in December.

This was confirmed by PFF president Mariano “Nonong” Araneta, who said that the Under-23 Azkals plan to be in Japan for at least a week in October for the final phase of their buildup for the biennial meet.

The senior Azkals actually trained in Japan early this year for their away clash with Mongolia in the AFC Challenge Cup.

The Philippines has not participated in men’s football in the last two SEA Games stagings, but team officials are hopeful the Filipino booters can finally nail a medal this time.

Several players from the senior squad like goalkeeper Neil Etheridge and midfielders Jason de Jong, Manuel Ott, Yannick Tuason and Simon Greatwich are all eligible for the SEA Games, raising hopes of a strong performance in Jakarta.

Araneta said the Azkals are also holding a week-long training camp in Bacolod in September to prepare for the Long Teng Cup.

Read more at Philippine Daily Inquirer

James Younghusband jealous of brother Phil?

Azkals player James Younghusband laughed off rumors saying there is a competition between him and his brother, Phil Younghusband.

In an interview with “Showbiz News Ngayon,” James denied he is jealous that Phil is getting more attention, saying he will always support his brother.

“No jealousy whatsoever. If anything, I support my brother all the way. We support each other no matter what like,” he said.
According to James, he is happy whenever Phil gets new projects or new endorsements.

Read more at ABS-CBN

Teen Azkals tryouts in Panaad Aug. 27

The Philippine national Under 16 football team will  hold  a tryout at the Panaad pitch  at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow.
The tryouts dubbed  as the 1st Teen Azkals Festival will be conducted by national coach Glenn Ramos and supervised by team manager Alvin Carranza.

New talents are expected to join in the tryouts and  those who  display impressive skills will be tapped to join the exhibition games between the Teen Azkals and seasoned local teams.
On August 28, the Teen Azkals will play against the Under 19 team at 8:30 a.m. and will face the Ceres Team the next day at 3:30 p.m. Their final game will be against University of St. La Salle at 3:30 p.m. on August 30.

“This is a very laudable move from the team manager to keep the team together and explore new horizons for the team, and for the others as well,” Philippine Football Federation Secretary General Ramon Manuel said.

Carranza said the festival is aimed at spreading friendship and unifying Filipinos, who are known to be sports-minded, for the love of football.

“We hope to develop talents from the grassroots and seek scholarships for the young talents,” Carranza said, adding that with enough funding, the PFF hopes to establish a football university to mold young talents inside the Ultra-Philippine Olympic Committee-Philippine Sports Commission compound.

Read more at Visayan Daily Star

Philippine Azkals' 23-man line-up unveiled

After several weeks of tryouts, the Philippine Azkals unveiled its 23-man lineup for the FIFA World Cup qualifier against Sri Lanka.

According to Soccercentral.ph, those in the National team are:

1. Neil Etheridge (Goalkeeper)
2. Manuel Ott (Midfielder)
3. Robert Gier (Defender)
4. Angel Aldeguer Guirado (Midfielder)
5. Ray Jonsson (Defender)

6. Jerry Lucena (Midfielder)
7. Stephan Schrock (Defender)
8. Ian Araneta (Striker)
9. Alexander Borromeo (Defender)
10. Emelio Caligdong (Left Wing Midfielder/Forward)

11. Anton del Rosario (Defender)
12. Roel Gener (Defender)
13. Nestorio Margarse (Midfielder)
14. Edward Sacapano (Goalkeeper)
15. Misagh Bahadoran (Striker)

16. James Rochlitz (Midfielder)
17. Nathaniel Burkey (Midfielder)
18. Jason Sabio (Defender)
19. Ricardo Becite (Midfielder)
20. James Younghusband (Right Wing Midfielder)

21. Phil Younghusband (Striker)
22. Paul Mulders (Attacking Midfielder)
23. Dennis Cagara (Defender)

Read more at ABS-CBN

Azkals coach: German camp a good respite from Manila’s distractions

Philippine football team coach Michael Weiss is looking forward to putting the Azkals in a tighter leash when they undergo a two-week camp in Germany starting Monday.

“We will not put them into prison, but we will have control over them,” Weiss said Tuesday night before leaving for Germany to make the necessary preparations for the camp in Duren, a city near the Dutch border three hours away from Frankfurt.

“We need to control if we want to get to the next level. They can’t do strange stuff in Germany. They are young players, and there will always be temptations in a city like Manila.”

Weiss earlier rued the lack of focus of the team in Manila, where several players have been pre-occupied with a myriad of non-football related activities.

But Weiss believes his team’s mindset is where it should be now three weeks before the 2014 Fifa World Cup Qualifying first round match against Sri Lanka.

Weiss said the training in Germany would be enough to address chinks in the Azkals’ armor that were exposed in the 3-4 exhibition loss to a United Football League side last Sunday.

“There’s no reason to make a drama out of it,” he said, referring to the loss. “We know we have a long way to go.”

Read more at Philippine Daily Inquirer