Azkals vow to rebound in Asian Cup Qualifiers

MANILA, Philippines – Life goes on for the beaten Philippine Azkals as they now look ahead to the next major battle and eye redemption from their meltdown in the Asean Football Federation (AFF) Suzuki Cup recently played on home ground.

“We’ll have the Asian Cup Qualifiers next year, that’s the big one for us,” said Azkals skipper Phil Younghusband.

The Pinoy booters are in the third round of qualifiers, which will be competed in a round-robin home-and away format starting March 2017. The Azkals need to finish in the top 2 of one of the groups to make a historic qualification in the Continent’s premier football event set in 2019 and wash away the bitter failure to land in the Suzuki Cup semis.

“The next goal is for the first time ever to get the Philippines to the Asian Cup, that’s the big competition for us and that’s the next step. We’ll play 10 home-and-away games and it should be a big calendar again,” said Younghusband.

Phl XI is picking up the pieces after missing out on the Suzuki Cup Last-4, hurt by opening draws with 10-man Singapore and Indonesia and a 0-1 setback to defending champion Thailand in Group A action at the Philippine Sports Stadium.

“We should come back stronger,” said striker Misagh Bahadoran, stressing the importance of holding better training camps for the Asian Cup Qualifiers.

“We should be together more, and longer, especially now most of the players are playing for local clubs. We have to train and play regularly together so we can jell with each other better,” he added.