MANILA, Philippines – Philippine Azkals head coach Hans Michael Weiss reminded Filipino football fans that the AFF Suzuki Cup is a completely different tournament from the recently concluded Philippine Football Peace Cup.
The Azkals ended a 99-year drought without an international football title when they ran through Macau, Chinese-Taipei and Guam to win the Peace Cup last week.
But in a report on the official Suzuki Cup website, Weiss stressed that the biennial tournament in November will be a whole different animal.
“The games in the AFF Suzuki Cup will be completely different from the Peace Cup. We will face much higher competition and opponents,” Weiss said.
The Philippines was the highest-ranked country that participated in the four-nation Peace Cup. But in the Suzuki Cup, they will face some of top countries in Southeast Asia, including Thailand and Myanmar in group competition.
But Weiss is hopeful that the Suzuki Cup will be “the highlight and hopefully that would be the climax of this year.”
Weiss is also delighted that several of the young Azkals he handpicked were influential in their victories in the Peace Cup, especially Golden Boot winner Denis Wolf.
“The idea is to lure them away from their home countries – (Jeff) Christiaens, Wolf and (Patrick) Reichelt, just to mention these three – and to build up a strong core here in the Philippines,” he said.
Aside from their three matches in the Peace Cup, the Azkals have also played in several friendlies, including a 2-0 victory over Singapore. They are set to face Bahrain and Kuwait in October before facing Singapore anew in November.
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They will face Myanmar in the group competition ? Thats still a bit early , first they have to win the qualifiers !
ReplyDeleteIm not sure if Wolf is a young Azkal when he is 29... :)
That should be a confidence booster for wolf. A confident and comfortable wolf will be a great partner for phil younghusband up front. Reichelt and omphroy would surely add more d At the back, i hope we could get juani guirado, cagara, jonsson, grier or lucena. De murga is another good option at the back. Christaens is getting more used to at left back still not ready for such high competition.
ReplyDeleteYes, that is 100% correct, AFF Suzuki Cup 2012 is much higher than Peace Cup recently and for the preparations for that tournament, we should get all our best players (Fil-Fors)if we want to continued and to show them (SEA)countries,that the Philippine AZKALS had something to prove this is our chance and bring the most talented, professional players...still we have time..we believed that AZKALS can win the AFF Suzuki Cup 2012 if we bring all our best players for the love and honor of our country...Mabuhay...VIVA PILIPINAS..VIVA AZKALS...
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