Former US skipper named Azkals coach

MANILA, Philippines - Former US skipper Thomas Dooley realizes how important the coming Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Challenge Cup is to the Filipino booters that he’s made the Asian Cup- qualifying tourney his foremost agenda as their new coach.

“I’m very honored, humbled and very excited to take this task. The shortest goal that we have is winning the Challenge Cup; this is the biggest step for the country,” Dooley said yesterday when the Philippine Football Federation officially introduced him as the new coach for Phl XI.

“It will not be easy. On paper, it looks like we are favored to be the one that should win that but in soccer you will never know. You can never underestimate other teams and we have to prepare right now. We have to get in to the heads of every single player that the biggest goal that we have in the next couple of months is winning that tournament,” he added.

A German-American, Dooley played for the US in the 1994 FIFA World Cup and was their captain in 1998. He won the UEFA title in 1997 with Schalke. Upon retirement, the 52 year-old Dooley managed 1. FC Saarbrücken in 2002 and 2003 and was named in the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2010. He served as assistant coach to Jurgen Klinsmann in a match against Mexico in 2011.

Dooley was signed to a one-year contract by the PFF, taking over from German Michael Weiss who was dismissed last month. PFF president Nonong Araneta and Azkals

team manager Dan Palami both expressed confidence that with Dooley on board and the series of international friendlies and overseas training camps they have penciled, the team will have a good shot at winning the Challenge Cup and qualifying for the 2015 Asian Cup.

“We are serious with the preparation for the Challenge Cup because this is a big tournament for the Phl team...and we hope to win this tournament. That’s why we needed to bring in fresh ideas to the team and bringing in a new coach. With his credentials we hope that he’ll be up to the task,” said Araneta.

For his part, Palami said the PFF and management have done their homework in choosing who will lead the Azkals to greater heights.

“With the entry of coach we have made sure that the chances had gotten better,” he said.

“It helps that he had a good career as a player which means he will easily get the respect of all our professional players and he will also have to empathize with them how it feels to play for the country and all these things. But of course, at the end of the day when we look at how he intends to proceed with getting the objective that we have for the team, I think the choice became clear,” he added.