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By ADRIAN STEWART CO
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MANILA – The Philippine men’s football team continues its build up for the 2016 Asian Football Federation Suzuki Cup as it faces North Korea Cholima in another international friendly match tonight at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium.
Coming from a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Bahrain on Friday, Azkals head coach Thomas Dooley said they have to perform well against the Cholima with the “big game” just six weeks away.
“Of course, I want to play nice, but what’s important now is having that confidence to win even if we don’t play well,” Dooley said. “That’s the spirit and mentality we want to develop because we know we can’t dominate games all the time.”
Leading the way for the Azkals’ 24-man squad are Phil and James Younghusband, Misagh Bahadoran, Kevin Ingreso, Ronald Muller, Patrick Deyto, Amani Aguinaldo, Daisuke Sato, Dennis Villanueva, Martin Steuble, and Manuel Ott.
Completing the lineup are Iain Ramsay, Kenshiro Daniels, Paolo Bugas, Jim Junior Munoz, Fitch Arboleda, Simon Greatwich, Stephan Schrock, Luke Woodland, Mike Ott, OJ Porteria, Nick O’Donnell, Daniel Gadia, and Dominic del Rosario.
The Cholima and the Azkals are familiar foes, being grouped together during the 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers. Their first match ended in a scoreless draw while the Azkals escaped to a 3-2 win in the reverse fixture.
The 125th-ranked Azkals are currently in the middle of preparations for the AFF Suzuki Cup group stages, which will be held in the Philippine Sports Stadium in Bocaue, Bulacan next month.
The Azkals has been bracketed in the tougher group in the tournament, with defending champions Thailand, 2012 titlist Singapore and Indonesia, which is returning from International Football Federation (FIFA) suspension.
“It’s no longer friendly matches for us. It’s always a fight for the country, for the spectators and for the sponsors,” said Dooley, who wants Filipino fans to cheer on the Azkals in the Suzuki Cup./PN
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