Azkals to fly to Qatar for FIFA and AFC preparations

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

 

The Philippine Azkals just confirmed that they will be setting up their training camp in Qatar in preparation for the upcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup and 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers.

Ilonggo Philippine Football Federation (PFF) President Nonong Araneta explained during a virtual press conference that forming their training bubble here in the PH given the current situation of the pandemic is very hard.

“It’s so hard to train here in the Philippines so we have decided to do the training camp in Qatar and we are lucky that there are other teams that will be there also as well so that we can have friendly matches. I think one is Palestine and the other is Syria before we go to China,” said Araneta.

Azkals manager Dan Palami revealed that 26 total players will be called up in the training camp that will start from May 18-31.

Out of the 26 players in the pool, 23 will be selected by the coaching staff headed by Scott Cooper to go out and represent the country in the China games.

The Azkals will be facing a tough road schedule as they first face Guam on June 3, China on June 9, and Maldives on June 15 all to be played at the Suzhou Olympic Sports Centre in Suzhou, China.

“Rest assured we are doing our best to put up a competitive team. It’s a work in progress but I think we’ve done enough so far. We’re doing our best to prepare the team with the coaching staff under coach Scott Cooper. I’m confident that we’ll have a good team in China.” Added Araneta.