Full-strength Azkals still a dream

KATHMANDU—The Philippines still longs for the day when it will have all the best available talent in the team for a major tournament.

It didn’t happen here at the AFC Challenge Cup in this laidback city in the Himalayas. And team manager Dan Palami fears it may not happen soon.

The Azkals were scheduled to play against a tough India side last night at the Dashrath Stadium, hoping to keep their semifinal hopes alive after dropping their first assignment against North Korea, 0-2.

“Up to now, that has always been the biggest challenge,” said Palami of getting the likes of standouts Stephan Schrock, Jerry Lucena and Dennis Cagara released from their respective foreign clubs to don the country’s colors.

“The players are actually willing to play, but the clubs will not let them,” said Palami, who remains hopeful that the Europe-based standouts will suit up for the next major tournament, the Suzuki Cup, late this year.

Schrock, who scored a memorable goal in the 1-3 home loss against Kuwait in the World Cup Qualifier, is one of the stars of Greuther Furth in the German second division.

The team is in a good position to vie for promotion to the prestigious Bundesliga and also made the semifinals of the German Cup.

Lucena is attached with Danish club Aarhus, which told the Philippine Football Federation in early February that they will not release the midfielder for the Challenge Cup.

Cagara recently signed with FSV Frankfurt, making his debut for the German second division club last Saturday.

Striker Denis Wolf plays in the fourth division in Germany and, although he could have been available for this tournament, he wasn’t able to participate because he didn’t get his Philippine passport before the deadline.

Clubs are only inclined to release players for Fifa international dates, and the Challenge Cup does not fall in the calendar.

Neil Etheridge of Fulham and Paul Mulders of ADO Den Haag in the Dutch first division were released for the tournament, boosting the Azkals’ artillery.

“The significance (of our tournaments) is sometimes lost in the clubs,” said Palami. “But we are taking steps so that they will be able to join tournaments that are actually in the Fifa calendar.
“We just have to resort to getting on the good side of the clubs to release players.”

Because of this problem, Palami said it is important to form a strong local-based core.

“We always have to work on the assumption that they are not coming (for major tournaments),” he said.

Another option is to convince Filipino players based abroad to play in the United Football League.
Palami signed up Rob Gier and the Spanish trio of Juan Luis Guirado, Angel Guirado and Carli de Murga to his UFL club, Global FC, so it can spend more time training with the national team.

“It’s difficult to absorb the costs,” Palami said. “I talked to (UFL chair) Santi (Araneta) about distributing the (European-based) players to different clubs so it would be easier for us to gather the core together.”