Spotlight on RP team midfielder Mark Drinkuth

Spotlight on RP team midfielder Mark Drinkuth

Mark was born in Duesseldorf, Germany in 1991. Even at an early age, he was aware of his Filipino heritage but that was about it. He did go to the Philippines on four occasions with the last being six years ago as his mother took him (he’s an only child) to visit her hometown of Cagayan de Oro.

In the past year, he has been playing for the Fortuna Duesseldorf Under-19 team as striker and occasionally as left midfielder with over 10 goals to his credit.

He was discovered by Paul Weiler who encouraged him to get in touch with Philippine football officials to try out for the national team.

He flew in from Germany last December 1 and was nervous because it was the first time he had flown by himself without any family or friend to accompany him. “That was an 11, 12-hour flight and I was nervous,” related Drinkuth. “But I was excited because it’s a whole new experience for me.”

About a week before he left for Vietnam for the national team’s participation in the 2010 Suzuki Cup, Drinkuth injured him hamstring. Though feeling somewhat better, he hopes to be given a chance to show what he can do. During the Philippines' match against Singapore, he found the atmosphere very exciting and close to what he experiences in Europe. But it was different being part of a national team and he said he looks forward to the next one which promises to more electric as it is against the Vietnamese national team. "Now we're really the underdogs," he said.

Mark is a Bayern Munich fan and counts Arjen Robbern and Franck Ribery as two of his favorite footballers.