Kuwait not taking chances, training hard for Azkals match

MANILA, Philippines – Kuwait isn’t taking any chances against the Philippines in their second round qualifying tie late this month for the 2014 Fifa World Cup.

Already fancied to prevail because of their international pedigree, the Kuwaitis are also relentless in their preparations, undergoing an extensive 10-day training camp in Lebanon before seeing action in a four-nation tournament in Jordan in the middle of this month.

Bader Abdul Jalil, the secretary of the Kuwait FA technical committee, actually watched the two legs of the first round showdown between the Azkals and Sri Lanka, which ended in an impressive 5-1 aggregate win for the Filipinos.

“They’ve been preparing against us for the past two months,” said former national coach Aris Caslib, also the PFF’s technical director, who had a brief chat with Jalil at the Rizal Memorial Stadium, where the Azkals fashioned out a 4-nil triumph in the second leg last Sunday.

The Kuwaitis, ranked 102nd by the International Football Federation and a 10-time Gulf Cup of Nations champion, bared their attacking teeth in a 6-0 dumping of Lebanon last July 2.

The match, however, was marred by a bench-clearing brawl that forced military to fire warning shots.

“Kuwait is at a different level,” said team manager Dan Palami. “We cannot afford to make the same mistakes against Sri Lanka because they have the ability to really punish us.”

The key stretch of Kuwait’s preparation will be in Amman, Jordan, where the Kuwaitis will play Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

The first leg will be played at the 22,000-seater Mohammad Al-Hammad Stadium in Hawally, Kuwait, at 7:30 p.m. on July 23 (12:30 a.m., July 24 in Manila), according to the Kuwait FA website with the return match at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila on July 28.