SPANISH mentor Carles Cuadrat, who calls the shots for the national men’s football team, will be with familiar and friendly company after compatriots Albert Roca and Dimas Delgado were hired as his deputies by the Philippine Football Federation, the PFF announced yesterday.
Like his predecessor, Albert Capellas, Cuadrat will have partners who have had experience with the famed Spanish powerhouse club Barcelona and stints in the Indian Super League.
“The PFF is focused on pushing Philippine football to a forward trajectory,” said PFF president John Gutierrez, explaining the recruitment of the two new Spanish tacticians in a statement.
“The gains we have accumulated from 2024 (to the present) will not be wasted; we will ensure incremental progress of our football programs,” Gutierrez said. “We are very eager to build the Philippines as a strong football force in Southeast Asia and beyond.”
The well-travelled Roca, 62, was the national coach of El Salvador from 2014 to 2015 and was the assistant mentor of Dutch great Frank Rijkaard for crack Middle East squad Saudi Arabia, on top of stints with Barcelona FC and SK Galatasaray in the Turkish First Division.
Delgado, 42, is a Catalan native like Cuadrat and played as a midfielder for the Barcelona B side in the mid-2000s.
He was the team captain of the Western Sydney Wanderers, former AFC Champions League title holders from 2015 to 2017, under coach Tony Popovic, who now handles the Socceroos, the Australian national men’s squad.
Roca and Delgado will join Cuadrat in preparing the Nationals in their pivotal AFC Asian Cup qualifying matches against Timor Leste on Oct. 9 in Darwin, Australia and the home game against the same side on Oct. 14 at the New Clark City Stadium in Capas, Tarlac.
