Football
Azkals add Bahrain match to Suzuki Cup buildup
InterAKTV/Allen Chavez
The Philippine national men’s football team will be battling Bahrain as part of its preparations for the upcoming 2012 ASEAN Football Federation Suzuki Cup.
The Azkals will play against Bahrain in a friendly match on October 12 in its capital Manama, according to the latest fixtures on the team’s official website.
The Bahrainis are no stranger to Filipinos, who fell to a 3-1 defeat against the Middle East side’s Under-23 squad in July 2011.
But the Azkals will first face Southeast Asian rivals Cambodia on September 5, Singapore on September 7 and Laos on September 10 before participating in the Paulino Alcantara Cup, which is slated from September 25 to 29 in Bacolod City and will feature Guam, Macau and Chinese Taipei.
The Filipinos are coming off their training tour in the United States this August, where they fell to USL Premier Development League side Chicago Inferno, 3-1, and saw their match against the US Virgin Islands cancelled due to misunderstanding among organizers.
The Azkals are using the matches to prepare for the 2012 Suzuki Cup in November, where they look to surpass their historic semifinal run two years ago.
