Philippine Azkals take on Cambodian squad today

THE Philippine Azkals will battle the Cambodian team today in the qualifying stage of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Challenge Cup at the Rizal Memorial football Stadium. Game time is set at 7:30 p.m. Squads belonging to Group E namely the Philippines, Turkmenistan and Cambodia were automatically awarded three points each after the unexpected pullout of the Brunei team from the AFC Cup qualifying tilt. Brunei did not name any specific reason for the withdrawal other than it is because of “unavoidable circumstances.”

Emilio “Chiefy” Caligdong said the Cambodians are expected to play rough because they want to bounce back from their humiliating 0-7 defeat against the Turkmenistan team on Friday.

Hans Michael Weiss, the German coach of the Azkals advised his wards to be more aggressive to win the match, “I’m always positive and I always believe in my players but we need to be more aggressive.”

Besides Caligdong, the Azkals would be relying on the prowess of brothers Phil and James Younghusband, Stephan Schrock, Angel Guirado, Marwin Angeles, Dennis Cagara, Carli De Murga, Jerry Lucena, Paul Mulders and Patrick Raichelt.

Because Neil Etheridge’s onegame suspension is still in effect during the Cambodia match, the Azkals would field either Eduard Sacapaño or Filipino- German Roland Muller as goalkeeper. JOSEF T. RAMOS