Football
Ex-Azkals coach McMenemy rooting for Philippines in upcoming Suzuki Cup
Reuters File Photo
Former Philippine national men’s football team coach Simon McMenemy will be rooting for the Azkals in the upcoming 2012 ASEAN Football Federation Suzuki Cup.
“I’ll be supporting them,” McMenemy wrote on Twitter in reply to a query about how the Azkals campaign.
McMenemy, who steered the Azkals to the semifinals in the 2010 edition of the Suzuki Cup, added that the team would be pressured to win their games in the group stages slated on Nov. 24 to Dec. 1 in Bangkok, Thailand. The Azkals are drawn in Group A alongside traditional powerhouse Thailand, 2008 titlists Vietnam and the champion of the tournament qualifiers, which he said could probably be Myanmar.
“But games against Vietnam and probably Myanmar will be pressured, must do better than 2010.”
Then 32, the English McMenemy became the youngest coach handling a national football team after taking over the Azkals on a probationary status in August 2010.
However, a month after the Suzuki Cup run, he was replaced by the squad’s current coach, German Hans Michael Weiss.
After his stint with the Azkals, McMenemy then handled various football clubs in Vietnam and Indonesia before being named last May as the head coach of Soccer School Indonesia-Arsenal, the official football school of English Premier League club Arsenal in Indonesia.
