Phl beach booters vie in Asian elims

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines has been added as one of the new entries in the Asian qualifying rounds for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Tahiti 2013.

The Pinoy booters, along with Afghanistan and Thailand, will join the 13 original participants in the qualifiers slated Jan. 22-26 in Qatar’s iconic Katara Beach. 

The teams are divided into four groups, locked in a battle for first place and a berth to the semifinal round. From there, the two finalists and the winner of the play-off for third place will move forward to the seventh edition of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup set Sept. 18-28 in Papeete, on the Pacific island of Tahiti.

In the official draw for the three new additions held recently at FIFA’s Headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, the Filipinos found themselves in Group D in the company of Iran, which made its fourth straight World Cup appearance in the 2011 after a third-place finish in the Asian qualifiers.

Also standing in Phl’s way in Group D are China, a quarterfinalist in the last Asian zonals, and Iraq, which placed ninth overall in the continental qualifiers two years ago.

The Beach Football Association of the Philippines (BFAP) has assembled a 10-man crew for this campaign to be handled by  coach Ahmed “Mike” Athab. 

Tasked to don the Phl colors are Wilson dela Cruz, Roel and Ronel Gener and Nestorio Margarse of Army, Jason Joker Arroyo of Nomads, Joshua Beloya of Ceres, Edmundo Mercado Jr. of Air Force, Sean Hungerford, Oliver Andreas Potschke of BF Preussen, and Atlas Michaelangelo Kale Alvarez.

“We’ll fight for the country,” the BFAD said as it announced the roster.

Other groups will feature Qatar, 2011 Asian runner-up Oman, Australia and Afghanistan (Group A), two-time defending champion Japan, Bahrain, Lebanon, and Thailand (Group B), and UAE, Uzbekistan, Palestine and Saudi Arabia (Group C).