VETERANS Simone Rota and Marwin Angeles, plus forward Kenshiro Daniels, are among those that German coach Michael Weiss has called up for the 10-day training camp of the Philippine Azkals starting Oct. 10 in Manama, Bahrain.
Both mainstays of Philippines Football League champion Kaya-Iloilo FC, defender Rota, 38, and midfielder Angeles, 32, have played previously for Weiss in his first stint with the national men’s football squad.
Daniels, 28, who also played for the Kaya-Iloilo booters, is currently suiting up for top Indonesian club Rans Nusantara currently seeing action in Liga 1 and was not around for the Nationals’ 2-1 win over Afghanistan in a friendly held last Sept. 12 at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium.
Absent from the roster released by the Philippine Football Federation late Wednesday night are Sebastian Rasmussen and Christian Rontini, who scored the goals in that triumph.
Skipper Neil Etheridge will be back in harness together with Kevin Ray Mendoza and Julian Schwarzer at the net while the other defenders are Jesse Curran, Daisuke Sato, Audie Menzi, Santiago Rublico, Jefferson Tabinas, Enrique Linares, Joshua Grommen and Dennis Villanueva.
Manning the midfield are Kevin Ingreso, Justin Baas, Jhanjhan Melissa, siblings Manny and Mike Ott and Sandro Reyes while the other forwards are OJ Porteria, Patrick Reichelt, Bienvenido Maranon, Pocholo Bugas and Jarvey Gayoso.
Weiss’ charges will face Kyrgyzstan on Oct. 14 before tangling with the Bahrain national team three days later.
The training camp is part of the national side’s preparations for the joint second round of the World Cup and Asian Cup Group F qualifiers kicking off on Nov. 16 at home against Vietnam at the Rizal Stadium.
They then play the winner of the first-round knockout series between Indonesia and Brunei on Nov. 21 before playing Asian football giant Iran in March next year.
The German tactician’s early goal is to get four points — one win and a draw — in the Azkals’s first two group matches to boost their chances of advancing to the next round.
