SRI Lanka has pulled out of its friendly match against the Philippines in Manila on November 19, the Philippine Football Federation announced on Wednesday.
PFF director of national teams Freddy Gonzalez said Sri Lanka cited the lack of funds to come to Manila as the reason for the cancellation as the federation no longer had time to find for a new opponent.
“We were recently informed that because of complications securing the necessary funds from their parliament that the Sri Lankan football team would no longer be able to travel to the Philippines to play on the 19th,” said Gonzalez in a statement.
“It’s a disappointing development as we really wanted to be able to play in front of the home crowd before the Mitsubishi Electric Cup kicks off next month. I’m sorry to everyone that was looking forward to the game,” said Gonzalez.
“We tried our best to explore alternatives, but in the end, the time constraints made it difficult to find a suitable replacement to step in on short notice,” said Gonzalez.
The Philippines will play Hong Kong in an away match on Thursday, but is still scheduled to go to Manila even with the cancellation of the game.
Gonzalez said the PFF has scheduled an open training session on November 17 at the Rizal Memorial Stadium, in lieu of the friendly match with the likes of Gerrit Holtmann, Sandro Reyes, and Kevin Mendoza appearing.
“We will announce the specific time soon,” said Gonzalez.
They are also expected to show up to support the Philippine women’s team in the ASEAN Women’s Futsal Championship to be held from November 16 to 21 at the Philsports Arena.
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