THE Philippine men’s football team battles Maldives at the start of the third and final round of the AFC Asian Cup 2027 qualifiers at the New Clark City Stadium in Capas, Tarlac on Tuesday night.
Kickoff is at 7 p.m. in the men’s squad’s first match since its successful campaign in the ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup where it reached the semifinals before it was defeated by Thailand late last year.
READ: Sky's the limit for PMNT after impressive showing in Asean Cup
The Southeast Asian competition is now behind them, and the Philippine team is now set for a new start in the Asian Cup qualifiers where it starts its bid to take the top spot in Group A and a place in the actual tournament.
Philippines coach Albert Capellas said the experience in the Mitsubishi Electric Cup is a boost as the squad now faces a different competition to start the year.
“Of course, we look at our performance in the Mitsubishi Cup especially in our last games to learn, to improve, to get better, to help the players, to perform more and more in the way that we want to play in the national team,” said Capellas.
Playing on natural grass excites Capellas
The Nationals are also looking forward to playing on natural grass with their first-ever appearance at the New Clark City Stadium, a venue built for the country’s hosting of the 2019 Southeast Asian Games.
READ: New Clark City to host PMNT matches in Asian Cup qualifiers
The match was moved at the NCC due to the ongoing renovations at the artificial turf of the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
Capellas said playing on natural grass will help the team better show the type of play he wants to see with the team.
The team has also been training on natural grass since they started camp for this March FIFA window.
“I know that the federation has made a very big effort to have a very good training field for us,” said Capellas. “They were taking care of the field. We really could train all the aspects that we wanted. And also with the field here in [New] Clark, the stadium is very nice. It’s impressive. It’s very new. The grass is the same.”
“I hope tomorrow, we can have a good field, good grass, flat, a little bit wet where the ball can move faster and we can play with high tempo with the ball and I hope that will help us to have a good game. I’m very happy to have the chance to play with natural grass,” said Capellas.
The squad will practically have the same roster as in the Mitsubishi Electric Cup led by top striker Bjorn Kristensen and goalkeeper Quincy Kammeraad. Expected to take part in the March FIFA window, German league striker Gerrit Holtmann, however, was a late scratch for the team.
The Philippines drew with Maldives, 1-1, in their last match-up held on June 15, 2021 in United Arab Emirates during the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
The Philippines and Maldives are also ranked No. 150 and No. 162 in the world respectively.
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