Guirado remains active as Azkal

MANILA, Philippines - Angel Guirado’s transfer to Indian side Salgaocar Sports Club may not necessarily mean he’s leaving the Philippine Azkals.

“Just like what we’re doing with players based in Europe, it’s a matter of communicating with his club and getting permission to release him for his Azkals duties,” said Philippine Football Fedeation (PFF) president Nonong Araneta.

Fil-Spanish Guirado signed a one-year deal with Federation Cup champ Salgaocar for the 2012-13 I-League competitions after playing for Global FC – the reigning league titlists in the United Football League that is chaired by Azkals manager Dan Palami. The I-League plays its season October through May, which runs smack into November’s AFF Suzuki Cup.

“Angel is a tall player with good physical presence and competent skills; he will give me lot of options as a striker,” Salgaocar head coach Karim Bencherifa said of the 6-foot-2 Azkals forward, as quoted by Goal.com’s report on the team’s announcement of Guirado’s acquisition over the weekend. 

Guirado has yet to formalize his move to India, according to Araneta.

“So far, we haven’t seen a request of transfer,” said the PFF chief, referring to a requirement for all players playing in Phl to secure before heading elsewhere. 

The Azkals are gearing up for the Suzuki Cup group stages in Bangkok in November. The Pinoy booters just wrapped up their training camp in the US and look forward to playing friendlies on the road against Cambodia (Sept. 5), Singapore (Sept. 9), and Laos (Sept. 10) and the four-nation Paulino Alcantara Cup in Bacolod against Guam (Sept. 25), Macau (Sept. 27) and Chinese-Taipei (Sept. 29).

A training camp in Bahrain from Oct. 8-18 is also in the pipeline with a match against the Bahraini national team set on Oct. 12 and a second friendly with another Middle East nation being arranged.