TWO tune-up matches await the Philippine Azkals, who will leave on Oct. 9 for a ten-day training camp in Bahrain as part of their build-up for the third round of the joint World Cup and Asian Cup qualifiers, according to football chief Mariano Araneta Jr.
“They will leave for Bahrain on Oct. 9 with coach Michael Weiss and they will have a tune-up game with a Kyrgyzstan squad on Oct. 14 and then an official friendly game against the national team of Bahrain two days later,” Araneta said yesterday during the Japanese Embassy handover of football gear to the Philippine Football Federation headquarters in Pasig.
Shigehiro Matsuda, the First Secretary and Japan Information and Culture Center director, turned over the equipment to Araneta, the PFF president, in the presence of Japanese PFF youth development director Tetsuya Tsuchida.
Araneta said a match against the Zambian national team coached by Avram Grant, whom he met during the FIFA Women’s World Cup in New Zealand last July, will no longer push through.
“The date that coach Grant requested fell on the day we will face Bahrain so it was no longer feasible,” Araneta said.
Weiss’ charges will go into the training camp buoyed by their rousing come-from-behind 2-1 win over Afghanistan last Sept. 12 at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
