Doha: The Philippine national football team, better known as Azkals, will play a friendly match against Nepal on October 31 at Al Arabi Stadium, it was revealed here yesterday.
The match, the second between the two countries in six months to take place in Qatar, will be played after the Qatar Stars League (QSL) encounter between Al Ahli and Umm Salal which kicks off at 7.45pm.
Azkals won the last match played in April this year at Al Ahli Stadium 3-0.
The match is part of the Corporate Social Responsibility programme of QSL club Al Ahli. The proceeds from the match will go towards the construction of a new school building for the Filipino committee in Qatar.
Crescente R Relacion Philippine Ambassador to Qatar said the football community in Qatar has had helped the community in the past on many occasions.
“I wish to thank Qatar Football Association, Qatar Stars League besides clubs like Al Ahli, Al Arabi who have supported us in different cultural and sports events. We thank Qatar Football Association, Qatar Stars League (QSL) and the QSL clubs for joining hands to organise this match,” Relacion said while addressing a press conference at Al Sadd Stadium here yesterday.
The last match between the two was organised to raise funds for the victims of natural disasters in Philippines, said the Filipino official.
Khalid Mubarak Al Kuwari, Chief Operations Officer at Qatar Football Assocaition (QFA) thanked Al Ahli club and officials for their Corporate Social Responsibility programme.
“The last match between Nepal and Philippines was to raise funds for people affected by cyclones and earthquake. The proceeds from match on Friday will be donated to the Philippine School Doha,” said Al Kuwari.
The Azkals, who arrived here yesterday, will also play a second friendly match against a Qatari club on November 3. Their Friday opponents also checked into Doha yesterday.
Azkals will take on Thailand on November 11, the second friendly match in preparation for the upcoming Suzuki Cup, which will be held in November.
Twenty-one players were called to join the Azkals’ training camp right before their forthcoming friendlies, Filipino media reported.
19 out of the 21 players, chosen to play in the two friendlies, ply their trade in United Football League (UFL), the Filipino league, while the remaining two play overseas.
Global FC’s Amani Aguinaldo, Patrick Deyto, Misagh Bahadoran, Curt Dizon, Mark Hartmann and Daisuke Sato, Kaya FC’s Kenshiro Daniels and Chris Greatwich, Ceres La Salle FC’s Jeffrey Christiaens, Juani Guirado, Manny Ott, Patrick Reichelt, and Paul Mulders, Loyola Meralco Sparks FC’s Simon Greatwich, Phil Younghusband, James Younghusband and Anton Del Rosario, Stallion FC’s Simone Rota and Team Socceroo FC’s Tomas Trigo are UFL players of Azkals.
Foreign-based players include Jerry Lucena who plays for Danish Superliga side Esbjerg fB and Major League Soccer’s Sporting KC player Martin Steuble.
Trigo, a goalkeeper with Team Socceroo has got his first call-up for. Trigo has Filipino-Spanish ancestry.
Two familiar names are not on the team’s line-up for the coming international friendlies.
Team captain Rob Gier will skip the games due to a family commitment while Jason De Jong, one of the mainstays of the Azkals midfield, announced his retirement from international play.
The Azkals got a major boost at the start of this month with an improved FIFA world ranking inching their way five paces forward to take the ranking from 134th in the world to 129th.
The improved record of the team came after they dominated the visiting Papua New Guinea side, 5-0, in a friendly at their home turf in Manila.
A majority of the players with Azkals team have a foreign lineage, with one of the parent or grandparent being a non-Filipino.
For Nepal, with FIFA ranking of 179, this is their third match in Qatar this year, the Himalayan kingdom players lost to Yemen 2-0 in March and also suffered a loss against Azkals in April.
Among those present for the press conference were Ram Hari Gairhe, a representative from the Nepalese community, Nasser Yaqoob, Marketing Manager of Al Ahli Club, Hassan Al Kuwari, Head of Events and Hospitality at Qatar Stars League and Dr Alexander S Acosta, Principal of Philippine School Doha.
The Peninsula
