Dooley recruits 23 Azkals for WC elims
Azkals coach Thomas Dooley has tapped 23 players to carry the fight for the country in next month’s Fifa World Cup Asian qualifiers matches, including “prodigal son” Stephan Schrock and comebacking Javier Patino.
Schrock, who had made up with Dooley after their spat last year, and Patino, who was absent in previous tourneys, are returning to fold for the June 11 home game against Bahrain and the June 16 away match against Yemen in Doha, Qatar, per lineup released by the Philippine Football Federation yesterday.
Also flying in from overseas are holdovers Neil Etheridge, Rob Gier, and Jerry Lucena and new recruits Kevin Ingreso, Stephen Palla, Iain Ramsay, and Luke Woodland. They are hooking up with Phl-based mainstays Phil Younghusband, Misagh Bahadoran, Amani Aguinaldo, Mark Hartmann, Juani Guirado, Patrick Reichelt, Simone Rota, Martin Steuble, Manny Ott, Patrick Deyto, Daisuke Sato, Kenshiro Daniels, Tomas Trigo and Dennis Villanueva.
Training camp will start June 1, giving Dooley barely 10 days to mold the pool into top form for the first game set at the Philippine Sports Stadium in Bocaue, Bulacan.
“We just have to deal with what we get and do as much as we can in the short window,” said Dooley.
The call-up of Aguinaldo, Sato, Daniels, Hartmann, and Ott in the seniors’ team effectively took them away from the U-23 side that will compete in the Southeast Asian Games beginning June 1 in Singapore.
The PFF also announced the composition of the Azkals-less Final 20 to the SEAG yesterday.
On the roster are Ronnie Aguisanda, Nathanael Alquiroz, Arnel Amita, Fitch Arboleda, Florencio Badelic, Jr., Mark Anthony Besana, Paolo Bugas, Jaime Vicenzo Cheng, Julian Mariano Clarino, Dominic Liam del Rosario, Neil Dorimon, Shirmar Felonco, Daniel Gadia, Paolo Salenga, Francisco Santos, Connor Reece Tacagni, Richard Talaroc, Jr., Kennedy Uzoka, Jinggoy Valmayor, and Nathanael Ace Villanueva.
Coached by Marlon Maro, the U-23 footballers trained last week in Sydney, Australia, where they played five friendlies against Aussie clubs.
The U-23 squad is bracketed with host Singapore, Indonesia, Myanmar and Cambodia in Group A of the SEAG.