THE Philippine Azkals will no longer play a practice match against India in Doha as part of their build-up for the joint qualification for the 2022 Fifa World Cup and the 2023 AFC Asian Cup.
Goal.com reported the game didn’t got the clearance from Qatar’s health ministry. India is also in Doha as it will play its own qualification matches in Qatar.
The Azkals are gearing up for the three remaining matches of the second round of the qualification where they will play Guam on June 3 and Maldives on June 9 to be played in a centralized venue in Suzhou, China.
The Philippines will now face China on a later date after it was moved to June 15.
But the Azkals also suffered a setback during the build-up as Gerrit Holtmann has officially been ruled out of participating with the national squad in the qualifiers.
Holtmann’s club VFL-Bochum announced on its social media account that the Fil-German has not completed the required documents for him to be eligible for the Azkals to play in the joint qualifiers.
The Azkals, though, remained optimistic as they continue their training camp.
“The coaching staff has already been implementing their philosophy and you can see that the players are out to prove themselves on the field. I’m looking forward to see them grow in the next few days,” said Azkals skipper Stephan Schrock.
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