Azkals tune up for World Cup elims, face Maldives

Match tonight (Rizal Memorial Stadium)

8 p.m. – Philippines vs Maldives

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines slugs it out with Maldives in an international friendly at the Rizal Memorial Stadium tonight with the Azkals treating the game like a title match.

“For us, it’s a very important game,” said coach Thomas Dooley of the 8 p.m. friendly at Rizal Memorial Stadium that serves as the Pinoy booters’ tuneup for their Sept. 8 Fifa World Cup Qualifiers duel with Uzbekistan.

“We’re obviously trying to prepare for the game against Uzbekistan and I’ve told the players that we don’t have friendly games anymore – we take every game seriously, we want to win every game,” added Dooley.

Meanwhile, tickets for the Azkals-Uzbekistan game are now available at www.ticketworld.com. Tickets are at P531.80 for Price Zone 1, P331.14 for Price Zone 2 and P125.40 for Price Zone 3. 

Ticket holders are also entitled to a free entrance after the game at The Palace Pool Club in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.

Like the Azkals, the Maldivians vowed to go all out as they gear up for their own WCQ match against China in Beijing, also on Sept. 8.

“This match will help us get confidence and improve the players ahead of our game against China,” said Ismail Mafooz, who took over following the dismissal of coach Velizar Popov.

Phl XI and Maldives carry contrasting experience in the first two matches of the WCQ last June. The Azkals prevailed over Bahrain and Yemen in Group H whereas as the Maldivians lost to Qatar and Hong Kong.

Azkals skipper Phil Younghusband emphasized the importance of sustaining the momentum entering the Uzbekistan gig.

“The important games are the World Cup Qualifiers but it’s as important to get good results going to the game against Uzbekistan. We don’t want a bad result heading to the World Cup Qualifiers. We want to develop a winning habit. We’ve had two good results and we wanna continue it before we play Uzbekistan,” said Younghusband.

The Filipinos and the Maldivians had previously clashed in the semis of the 2014 Asian Football Confederation Challenge Cup over in Male, where the visiting Phl won in extra time, 3-2.

“Our main aim is to get a good result against the Phl and we all know that they beat us in the Challenge Cup at home and they’re a good team. But we are confident if we work hard, we can get a good result against them,” said vice captain Akram Abdul Ghani.