Weiss in as Azkals coach

This appears in the Monday January 10, 2011 edition of the Business Mirror.

Weiss in as Azkals coach

by rick olivares

When the Philippine Men’s National Football Team takes to the Panaad, Bacolod pitch on February 9, 2011 for the first match of the Asian Football Confederation Challenge Cup against Mongolia, they will do so with a new head coach and a different lineup.

Hans Michael Weiss, a 45-year old German national with a coaching resume that has seen him patrol football pitches from Japan to China to Rwanda, is now the head coach of the Azkals. He replaces Simon McMenemy who during his four-month stint with the nationals steered them to a semifinals finish of the 2010 Suzuki Cup. McMenemy’s lack of a “B’ coaching license automatically eliminated him from continuing the job for the Challenge Cup where it is a requirement.

The Deutscher Fussball Bund got in touch with the national team management headed by Dan Palami even before the Azkals began their group stage stint of the Suzuki Cup in Vietnam to offer their help. But with the Suzuki Cup ongoing, Palami was unable to take up their offer until last week.

The Germans offered the services of any one of the three coaches, Weiss, Karsten Neitzel, and Lutz Pfannenstiel. Of the three Weiss tapped to coach the national team while Pfannenstiel, a goalkeeper, could possibly help out. He is the only professional football player in the world to have played on all six continents of the world and founded Global United FC, a team of ex-professional players who champion awareness of climate change.

While in Germany, the national team management met with several Fil-Germans who expressed interest in playing for the Philippines. They include brothers Manuel, Mike, and Marko Ott, Mark Drinkuth who was with the Azkals in the Vietnam leg of the 2010 Suzuki Cup, William Guerridoni, Oliver Potsche, Patrick Reichelt, Patrick Herget, and Ralph Koch. Fil-Dane Dennis Cagara was reported to express interest but there is the matter of his citizenship. Denmark does not allow dual citizenship and the question of his involvement remains unresolved. Palami said that he met Cagara’s father, a fellow Leyte native like himself during the Christmas holidays last year.

Palami said that the results of the meeting with the DFB will be made known soon after meeting with PFF president Mariano “Nonong” Araneta today.

The team will conduct open tryouts for the national team on January 17-19 at the University of Makati from 4-6pm.

After the Panaad match with Mongolia, the Azkals will play an away game in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia on March 15.