MANILA, Philippines - Beefed up by nine foreign-based players, the Philippines opens its bid against Bhutan today in the AFC Challenge Cup Qualifiers in the Maldives.

Goalkeeper Neil Etheridge, the only Filipino-British player affiliated with a Premiere League club, leads the squad that also includes 28-year-old Robert Gier, a 12-year veteran of the English leagues, who will make his debut with the national team in the four-team qualifying tournament.

?I think this is the best team that we have put together,? said Philippine football president Mari Martinez, who has been criticized for forming the team a month before the tournament.

The nationals will vie for the lone slot from Group B against Maldives and Turkmenistan.

Save for Gier and collegiate standouts Jovanie Simpron, Francis Gustilo and Jose Abiera, the core of the national team the past four years has been kept by returning coach Aris Caslib.

The Filipinos are fancied to overwhelm Bhutan, which they blanked, 3-0, in the same tournament last year in Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo.

They are coming off two international tournaments, where they missed out on qualification due to goal difference.Cedelf P. Tupas