THE Philippine men’s national football team (PMNT) will compete in two tournaments as part of their build-up for the 2024 AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup.
PMNT is entered in the Merdeka Cup from September 2 to 10 in Kuala Lumpur, and the King’s Cup from October 7 to 15 in Thailand.
The Philippines will play against higher-ranked opponents in the two tournaments. The 147th-ranked nationals will go up against Tajikistan (102), Lebanon (117), and Malaysia (135) in the Merdeka Cup, then Syria (93), Thailand (100), and Tajikistan again in the King’s Cup.
Two more friendlies are also slated for the PMNT during the FIFA international window from November 11 to 19, one of which is set to be played at home.
“The men’s team’s schedule has been ironed out all the way until the Mitsubishi Electric Cup,” said PFF director of national teams Freddy Gonzalez.
Home matches for PMNT
The Philippines will go up against Myanmar at home on November 27, and Vietnam on December 3 at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in the AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup, Southeast Asia’s premier football tournament.
PMNT wraps up the group stage on the road against Indonesia on December 7 in Jakarta.
Gonzalez said the home matches - which are also being planned over on the women’s side - will strengthen the following of the national teams.
“A lot of the time the players don’t have that connection with the crowd and the Filipino people, and so we’d like to change that and get both the fans and players connected to each other more,” said Gonzalez.
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