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Azkals line-up released for Indonesia friendly

By ROY MOORE

The 21-man lineup for the Azkals' August 14 friendly match against Indonesia has been released through the team's official website, showing a mix of new blood, established players, and prodigal sons. 

 
 
Amani Aguinaldo, Paolo Bugas, and Raymark Fernandez join an Azkals squad, which sees the return of right back Jerry Barbaso, Angel Guirado, and Mark Hartmann to the line-up. The website also noted that the team will play a friendly match against the Philippine U19 team this coming Friday, August 9, 8am at the Emperador Stadium. 
 
Here’s the full 21-man line-up for the friendly match at the Manahan Stadium, in Surakarta, Indonesia:
 
Goalkeepers
  • Ed Sacapano (Army)
  • Patrick Deyto (Green Archers)
 
Defenders
  • Rob Gier (Ascot Utd)
  • Amani Aguinaldo (Global)
  • Jerry Barbaso (Global)
  • Raymark Fernandez (Green Archers)
  • Carli de Murga (Global)
 
Midfielders
  • Jeffrey Christiaens (Global)
  • Chris Greatwich (Kaya)
  • Mark Hartmann (Global)
  • Marwin Angeles (Global)
  • James Younghusband (Loyola)
  • Paul Mulders (Global)
  • Patrick Reichelt (Singhtarua FC)
  • Paolo Bugas (FEU)
 
Forwards
  • Phil Younghusband (Loyola)
  • OJ Porteria (Kaya)
  • Angel Guirado (Olympic Xativa)
  • Chieffy Caligdong (Green Archers)
  • Joshua Beloya (Ceres)
  • Misagh Bahadoran (Global)
 
Defensive reinforcements
 
Long-time Philippine football fans will be encouraged by the defensive additions. Though there are more strikers in the team than natural defenders, there is progress with Jerry Barbaso called up, and Amani Aguinaldo and Raymark Fernandez, who both impressed in the U23 exhibition game with the UFL All Stars, likely to get good game-time partnering with stalwart Rob Gier at the heart of defense. 
 
With Jeffrey Christiaens now a capable left back, the Azkals can play a back four who are all in their natural positions, almost. The mix of youth, experience, and callbacks for long-time absentees will also be interesting for the Azkals as coach Weiss now has greater depth to call on and a growing local base of players. 
 
Indeed only three of the players in the line-up are based overseas, though Ascot United’s Rob Gier, Olympic Xativa’s Angel Guirado, and Singhtarua’s Patrick Recihelt have all played for Global at some point, making this the first line-up in a long time where all the players have played local Philippine football at some point in their careers.

Global is still the most represented team in the lineup, with eight players following the captures of Mark Hartmann and Amani Aguinaldo. Though this represents a lower number than we’re accustomed to and shows the greater available talent from other local teams and grassroots football. 
 
Looking for first win over Indonesia
 
And so the Philippines, flying high at 144, will face Indonesia optimistic of finding a win against the now-168th ranked team in the world, at the time of writing. With the FIFA rankings next scheduled for release tomorrow, August 8, the Philippines is expected to further that gap as they will jump to 141 in the world, their highest-ever placing. Indonesia, meanwhile, will likely drop a place to 169, just one place above their lowest-ever rankings as achieved earlier this year. 
 
Though the Philippines is now the more highly-rated team, 28 places above their opponents if the predictions for the next release prove correct, the Philippines has yet to beat their South East Asian rivals in either a friendly match or a competitive game. In 21 meetings, two draws have been the most positive results for the Azkals, the first back in the 1970 East Asian Games, while the second was in a friendly match at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in the run-up to the Suzuki Cup. 
 
Last year, the Azkals struggled to come away with a draw against a weakened Indonesian side, given the off-field political problems surrounding their domestic leagues, as the Azkals even finished the game with nine men. This time around though, the Philippines will be looking for that first win, to add Indonesia to a growing list of countries they’ve beaten for the first time under coach Michael Weiss. 
 
A victory would also mean that Laos would be the last remaining Southeast Asian nation yet to suffer defeat at the hands of the Philippines. And given the Azkals’ rise to second in the region, it will only be a matter of time before the Philippines can make sure they’re in the win column against all of their regional rivals.
 
First, though, they’ve got to defeat Indonesia.

Predicted Line-up:
 
Sacapano
 
Barbaso           Aguinaldo           Gier           Christiaens
 
Reichelt           Mulders           Greatwich           Caligdong
 
Guirado
 
P. Younghusband


- RAF/AMD, GMA News
Tags: indonesia, azkals
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