Full-bodied Azkals face Indons

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Azkals parade a near full-strength squad as they tackle 2010 Suzuki Cup semis tormentor Indonesia tonight at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium in a Fifa international friendly that they view more as a “test” rather than a venue for revenge.

“I don’t want to consider a revenge match. A lot of things have happened after the semifinals. We want to win every game,” Azkals defender Rob Gier said during yesterday’s pre-match press conference.

Indonesia’s Merah Putih scored a pair of 1-0 victories over the Azkals in their two-leg Last 4 meetings in the last Suzuki Cup, a finish that dramatically catapulted Phl XI to their current prominent status. Since then, the Azkals went on to make steady improvement in the international scene, capped by a bronze medal in the AFC Challenge Cup last March.

The Pinoys are now looking ahead to the 2012 ASEAN football slated in November.

“It’s good to see our progress 1 1/2 years after the Suzuki Cup and six months before the next,” said Azkals coach Michael Weiss, whose wards forced reigning holders Malaysia to a 1-1 draw in an earlier away friendly.

Weiss’ side will welcome back three players who sat out the Malaysia outing, Neil Etheridge (suspension) and Phil and James Younghusband (prior commitment), and take in the fold two topflight Fil-Danish defenders in Dennis Cagara and Jerry Lucena for the 7 p.m. match.

The team, however, will miss prolific Fil-German midfielder Stephan Schrock, who had to take an unscheduled and immediate flight back to Germany to attend to an urgent family matters. 

“As much as we want to reintroduce (Stephan) Schrock tomorrow (tonight), we have no choice,” said Weiss. “But we are not short of options. We have Etheridge and the Younghusbands coming back and we’re expecting Cagara and Lucena.”

The Azkals will also have at their disposal Europe-based pros Paul Mulders, Manuel Ott and Denis Wolf to beef up Phl-based mainstays like Jason Sabio, and Chieffy Caligdong.

Indonesia will field in virtually a different team than the one that outclassed the Azkals in 2010.

“There’s only two of us from the Suzuki Cup. The rest is new,” said Dutch-Indonesian midfielder Irfan Bachdim, the lone holdover along with Oktovianus Maniani.

Coach Nil Maizar said they expect the Azkals to give them a good match, especially after the 1-1/2-year gap since the two sides faced. 

“The Philippine team is a good team. But we are optimistic that we can win even though we did not have the preparation that we would have liked,“ he said.