After losing to Indonesia in a friendly in August, the Philippine men's seniors football team is back on the pitch this weekend as they are set to defend the championship they won last year, the Philippine Peace Cup.
The difference this time around is that the competition will be held at the Panaad Stadium in Bacolod, Negros Occidental, and that instead of four teams, there will only be three. Gone are Guam and Macau, and in their place is Pakistan.
Chinese Taipei has been the other consistent participant aside from the Philippines ever since its Long Teng Cup iteration, and the two will kick off the tournament on October 11 at 7pm. Two days later, it will be the South Asian squad testing the East Asian country at 4pm, and finally, the Cup will be capped on October 15 with the Azkals facing Pakistan.
Expected to lead the charge for the locals are European top flight booters Stephan Schrock and Neil Etheridge. They will be reinforced by old hands Rob Gier, Juani Guirado, and Jerry Lucena. They will be supplanted by local-based players Phil and James Younghusband, OJ Porteria, Chieffy Caligdong, and Chris Greatwich.
If head coach Hans Weiss will field his strongest 11, the expected starting lineup will be composed of Etheridge between the sticks; Gier, Guirado, Lucena, and Patrick Reichelt at the back; Schrock, Greatwich, Jeffrey Christiaens, and Mark Hartmann at midfield; and Phil Younghusband and Porteria up front.
Last year, the Philippines swept the competition en route to the title, conceding only a solitary goal which came in the final match against Chinese Taipei. It is easy to see them duplicating the feat since the country is the highest-ranked team in the tournament since the two other squads are hovering around the 170 mark.
According to the Azkals' official website, this tournament will start off a series of tuneup matches in preparation for next year's AFC Challenge Cup in Maldives.
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