Azkals confident but concerned about desert heat

This appears in the Thursday July 21, 2011 edition of the Business Mirror.

Azkals confident but concerned about desert heat

by rick olivares

KUWAIT CITY, KUWAIT -- “Mucho calor!” Thus exclaimed Fil-Spanish striker Angel Guirado as the team exited the Kuwait International Airport late Tuesday evening.

The Philippine Men’s Football National Team arrived from Bahrain where they played the Bahrain Olympic Team in a pair of friendly matches. Although the Azkals lost both matches, 2-1 and 3-1, the team came away with plenty of positives to look forward to.

“We went into Bahrain with a couple of objectives,” said National Team Manager Dan Palami. “One we wanted to try playing the team against top caliber competition with the mindset that Aly (Borromeo) and Stephan (Schrock) would be unavailable; and two, we had to acclimatize ourselves to the hot weather. Had we a complete team for both matches, the result could have been different. But we like how we played because of our compact formation and aggressiveness.”

Borromeo and Schrock were assessed two consecutive yellow cards during the away-and-home series with Sri Lanka. But an appeal made by the Philippine Football Federation last July 6 to the Asian Football Confederation to cancel out the suspensions has given the team some hope. The appeal cited Paragraph 3 of Article 17 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code that stated, “The FIFA Disciplinary Committee may exceptionally depart from or amend this rule before the start of a particular competition.”

As such, last July 18, AFC General Secretary Alex Soosay endorsed the appeal to FIFA. Wrote Soosay, “Pursuant to Article 37 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code governing the cancellation of caution(s), AFC would like to request to the FIFA Disciplinary Committee to cancel the aforesaid cautions that were received by the said players.”

“If we have our ‘A-Team’ complete then we have a very good chance,” added Palami who also noted that the Azkals are playing their highest seeded foe to date in Kuwait which is ranked #102 in the world by FIFA.

Should Borromeo be allowed to suit up, the team will have its back four from last year’s successful AFF Suzuki Cup campaign in left back Ray Jonson, central backs Borromeo and Rob Gier, and right back Anton del Rosario.

Midfielder Jason de Jong has rejoined the team to some praise from Azkals head coach Michael Weiss and Palami. “He’s been playing aggressive and is making good diagonal passes,” said Weiss. “Now we hope he is able to do that against top-caliber competition.”

While the team believes that they can hold their own against the Kuwaitis, they are more worried about the desert heat. “The game is at seven in the evening but it’s still going to be 48° out there,” said a concerned Phil Younghusband who has been known to cramp up during games. “What I am worried about is the later stages of the game. We really have to hydrate properly and drink our Gatorade just to make sure.”

A liaison officer of the Kuwait Football Federation who is assigned to the Azkals said that in the past week, the heat went up to over 50°. “It’s so hot that you can fry an egg on the street,” said the officer who refused to be named.

The Kuwaitis have been scouting the Philippines from Sri Lanka to Manila and all the way to Bahrain. “I take it not only as a sign of respect but also as a sign of a very good football federation,” praised Palami of the host team. “They do what it takes to win football games.

In its first day in Kuwait, the Azkals watched recent game film of Al-Azraq, as the Kuwaiti team is known by, against China. The team also practiced at 7pm in the evening.