Old Rizal facelift nears completion

MANILA, Philippines - While the Azkals are holding their training camp in Duren, Germany, preparations are also in full swing to make their home turf – the decades-old Rizal Memorial Stadium – ready for their Fifa World Cup Asian qualifying match with Sri Lanka set July 3.

Philippine Football Federation (PFF) president Mariano Araneta reported that construction works at Rizal, including the installation of seats at the grandstand and bleachers areas and the dressing rooms for the two teams, are nearing completion and the venue should be available by June 20.

“Construction is on time and I have nothing to fear that Rizal won’t be ready (for the July 3 home game),” said Araneta. “Our target is by June 20, everything will be completed or on its finishing stages, at the very least.”

The 18,000-seater Rizal Memorial has not played host to a major international tournament since the 1991 Southeast Asian Games and needed renovation on majority of its facilities. 

The pitch itself was refurbished last year though a memorandum of agreement between Rizal owner Philippine Sports Commission and De La Salle University, so just minor fixing had to be done there.

The PFF will also be renting a digital scoreboard (with timer) for the Azkals’ home game, according to Araneta.

Likewise, Araneta said the federation is coordinating with authorities for security plans and other matters such as parking and traffic arrangements.

Meanwhile, the Azkals arrived in Duren, Germany Sunday night for their two-week training camp, the highlight of which will be tune-up game matches with four German squads.

“The objective of this training camp is to achieve cohesion, plug in holes, and address the weaknesses that we observed in the last game (Azkals versus United Football League All-stars two weeks ago), especially in defense, being more compact and improving our cohesion,” team manager Dan Palami said.

This developed as Fil-Dutch midfielder Paul Mulders, a new member of the Azkals, would temporarily leave camp after receiving word his father died in Amsterdam, some 205 kms from Duren.

Mulders’ official Facebook page said he went back to Amsterdam from Germany yesterday and will take some time off to be with his family. It wasn’t immediately clear how long he would be out of the camp.

Officials are leaving no stone unturned for the Sri Lanka duel on June 29 in Colombo and July 3 in Manila, considering it as a stepping stone to the second round of the WC qualifiers against Kuwait.

“It’s big for us because for a long time, we haven’t joined any World Cup qualifying and we’ve not hurdled the first round in the cases that we joined. It would be history for us,” Araneta said.