PFF asks new dates to host AFC qualifier

MANILA, Philippines - The qualifiers for the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Challenge Cup that the Philippines will be hosting will likely be held on March 22-26 at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium.

Group E of the qualifying stage, featuring the host Azkals, 2012 runner-up Turkmenistan, Cambodia and Brunei, is originally slated March 2-6, but the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) has requested for a later schedule.

“We’re asking for more time to prepare as the stadium will not be available on March 2-6,” said PFF president Nonong Araneta.

The new schedule for the Manila meet came up in the official website of the Tajikistan Football Federation, which reported about a Tajik technical official going to Phl for the Challenge Cup on these dates. 

The PFF has yet to receive a formal confirmation of the change in date but according to Araneta, the form that the AFC sent to the federation asking for “kick-off times” for the qualifiers already showed the dates March 22, 24, and 26.

“We’ll schedule the matches at 4:30 p.m. for the first game and 7:30 p.m. for the second game,” the PFF chief said.

The new dates also fall on Fifa international match days, leading to the possibility of the availability of players from overseas.

Other group qualifiers will go on as originally scheduled on March 2-6 in Myanmar (Group A), Laos (Group C) and Nepal (Group D), and on March 17-21 in Kyrgyztan (Group B).

The top team in each of the five groups will automatically advance to the Challenge Cup’s final stage next year along with host Maldives and the two best second-placers in the qualifiers. Eventual winner of the 2014 Challenge Cup, in turn, will qualify for the AFC Asian Cup in 2015, a prestigious event that the Azkals are targeting as well.

The Azkals are set to return to camp next week after the holidays to jumpstart their buildup for the Challenge Cup.

PFF officials and team manager Dan Palami are also expected to sit down soon to decide on the fate of German coach Michael Weiss, whose contract expires this month. Palami earlier indicated his desire to give Weiss an extension.