Football
Azkals set lineup for US training tour
AKTV/Mark Dimalanta
The Philippine national men’s football team has named its players for its training tour in the United States this August.
Aside from regular mainstays, coach Hans Michael Weiss tapped a number of homegrown talents to fill the absence of some foreign-based players whose status with the national team remains uncertain due to club commitments.
Named to the squad are team captain Aly Borromeo, Jason Sabio and OJ Porteria of Kaya FC; brothers Marwin and Marvin Angeles, Misagh Bahadoran, Jeffrey Christiaens, Rob Gier, Carli de Murga, Paolo Pascual, Patrick Reichelt and Angel Guirado of Global FC; Roel Gener, Eduard Sacapano and Nestorio Margarse of Philippine Army Fritz & Macziol; Ref Cuaresma and Anto Gonzales of the Loyola Meralco Sparks; and Ian Araneta of Philippine Air Force Phoenix.
Also in the lineup are Azkals co-skipper Chieffy Caligdong, 2010 Suzuki Cup holdovers Jason de Jong and Chris Greatwich, and Filipino-German Denis Wolf.
Weiss also included Filipino-American Matthew Uy, a former member of the US Under-21 team, and Filipino-Panamanian Demit Omphroy, who once suited up for the Panama Under-21 team squad.
Notable players who will not join the Azkals in the US are brothers Phil and James Younghusband, who will miss the tour due to prior commitments. Europe-based goalkeepers Neil Etheridge and Roland Mueller as well as midfielder Stephan Schrock will also be unavailable.
The Azkals left the country on Thursday for their two-week training tour in the US, where they will play friendly matches against United Soccer League squad Chicago Inferno on Aug.11 and the US Virgin Islands national team on Aug.18.
The US training tour as part of the Azkals preparations for the 2012 ASEAN Football Federation Suzuki Cup in November in Thailand and Malaysia, as they aim to surpass their semifinal finish in the same tournament two years ago.
