As part of their preparation for Asian Football Confederation challenge cup in May, the Philippine Azkals will take on Malaysia and Azerbaijan on March.
photo credit: interAksyon.com (InterAKTV/Roy Afable)
The Azkals will face Malaysia on March 1 in Kuala Lumpur, a debut game for their newly appointed head coach Thomas Dooley. The Azkals’ newest coach replaced the most successful Philippine national football Coach Hans Michael Weiss of Germany.
Then, the Filipino booters will go up against Azerbaijan on March 5 in a friendly match in Dubai, a rare chance that the country will have an encounter with a European team.
“We cannot let p(–foul word(s) removed–) the invitation of Azerbaijan to a friendly match. It will be a good exposure for our national team, and would help our preparations for the AFC challenge cup Maldives finals in May 2014,” PFF president Mariano Araneta said (Statement from interAksyon.com)
The match against the FIFA 94th ranked Azerbaijan will just be the second time our football team will play a European squad after Philippines was beaten by Estonia in 1997 in Manila.
The AFC challenge cup will be held in Maldives, where the champion will earn a slot in the 2015 Asian Cup. The Philippine Azkals is one of the top-ranked team in the upcoming AFC Challenge Cup and they should try to prove that the team is a force to reckon with in Asia by competing against a higher-ranked team from various parts of the world.