HANS Michael Weiss is preaching patience as he aims to revive the Philippine Azkals in his second stint with the team.
Weiss was hired back by Azkals management after his first stint from 2011 to 2013 where the team enjoyed success. His resume includes a third place finish for the Azkals in the AFC Challenge Cup in 2012 and a semifinal finish in the AFF Suzuki Cup that same year.
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Weiss said he is not promising immediate results with the Azkals in his return, but vowed to do his best to prepare the team physically and tactically in the coming training camps.
“For me, the September and, particularly, the November window, we want the best possible squad that we can get,” said Weiss during a press conference where the Philippine Football Federation formally announced the re-hiring of the German coach.
“We must make them ready. We must prepare them,” said Weiss, whose last stop was with the Laos national team from 2022 to 2023.
The Philippine MNT faces Nepal on June 15 and Chinese Taipei on June 19 in this Fifa international window.
The 58-year-old Weiss called on the stakeholders, including fans to temper expectations for the squad in the coming friendlies.
Weiss cited the absence of Fil-German Gerrit Holtmann, who recently concluded his campaign with Bundesliga club VfL Bochum.
“The people on the boards, sometimes they complain about things which they really don’t know in details. I would ask for everyone’s patience,” said Weiss, who also handled the Mongolia national squad.
“Let’s say like Holtmann for example. They have a long season. They avoided relegation. He had an injury. And then to come to the Philippines, of course, it’s one thing.”
“We have everyone on board. We are going with full force into the team,” said Weiss.
With the current pool of talent, Weiss said the Azkals have the potential to be a competitive team.
“If you look on paper, if you consider all the travel arrangements, all these things, if you can get 70 to 80 percent of the talent together and let them play not only in one window but two, three, five windows, you will see a different team. We are hard to beat. We will be hard to beat. But we must get them. We must make the right preparation. We must prepare them. We must prepare ourselves. We have to give good conditions to consider to come and play with the team,” said Weiss.
“We are hands on 100 percent. We are in contact with the players. No one will be unnoticed. We will do everything to make a strong, competitive team,” said Weiss.
Weiss sees himself as a better coach than his first stop as he also plans to bring excitement back to the Philippine national football team.
“I think it will be different because I’m a better coach now. I did a lot of research and study as far tactically and coaches is concerned. I have a lot of experience in Asia. I know how to play each team. With Laos and particularly in Mongolia, I was the underdog. We had to obstruct the opponent in playing their style which did fantastically particularly with Mongolia.”
“I will try to use the same system with more firepower up front and with offensive oriented, attractive, pressing football, high up the pitch and try to score. We have to bring excitement back. You don’t get excitement when you sit deep and wait just for counters,” said Weiss.
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