Tough decisions ahead for Azkals coach

GERMAN coach Michael Weiss faces tough decisions ahead with less than two months before the biggest tournament of his tenure with the Philippine football team.

And the two friendly matches in the Middle East this month will perhaps give him some answers ahead of the AFF Suzuki Cup in Bangkok in November.

The Azkals face Bahrain on Oct. 12 and Kuwait tentatively on Oct. 16 in what is seen as the most crucial stretch of their buildup for the biennial tournament.

The two friendlies are part of the two-week camp for the Azkals, who are hoping to at least match a semifinal finish two years ago.

“I really can’t say at the moment,” said Weiss when asked if the youthful squad that won the Paulino Alcantara Peace Cup will still be the backbone of the Suzuki Cup side.

“We have players in Europe that have quality but sometimes there’s no guarantee, so we really have to take that into consideration.”

The Azkals won the country’s first international crown in 99 years Saturday when they swept all three assignments in the Peace Cup, punctuated by a 3-1 win over Chinese-Taipei.

The tournament saw Weiss unveil new recruits and young players in OJ Porteria, Demitrius Omphroy and Matt Uy, even as he excluded Phil and James Younghusband from the lineup because of commitment issues.

Most of the Europe-based Azkals like Jerry Lucena, Paul Mulders, Stephan Schrock and goalkeeper Neil Etheridge, also missed the tournament because of club commitments.

Because of the absence of Etheridge and Roland Muller, Ed Sacapano played all three matches in the tournament.

Weiss hinted that Sacapano could end up starting for the Suzuki Cup as Etheridge could be unavailable after Fulham loaned him to English fourth-division Bristol Rovers.

In fact, only three players from the regular starting eleven—Chieffy Caligdong, Denis Wolf and Carli de Murga—were part of the lineup in most of the Peace Cup matches.

Weiss threw the status of the Younghusband brothers up in the air, saying that it is still not the time to answer questions on their possible inclusion in the squad for the Suzuki Cup.

“It’s a very tricky situation and I can’t answer that, but they are still part of the pool,” he said.