Philippines lacks many stars when playing Vietnam
The Philippines summoned 45 players to prepare for the AFF Cup 2022, then shortened to about 27 before going to Vietnam. However, many quality and famous players are absent because the host club does not release troops or refuse to join the team because they are not on the FIF schedule.
Most notably, Birmingham City goalkeeper Neil Etheridge is playing in the English First Division. The 32-year-old goalkeeper used to play in the English Premier League for Cardiff City in the 2017-2018 season and is the most expensive Southeast Asian player in the transfer market with $ 10 million in 2019. In addition, defender Daisuke Sato – Persib Bandung (Indonesia), John Patrick Straub – Hansa Rostock (Germany), midfielder Gerrit Holtmann – VfL Bochum (Germany), Kevin Ingreso – Sri Pahang (Malaysia), brothers Mike Ott and Manny Ott or striker Oscar Arribas – Cartagena ( Spain)... also absent.
Two-thirds of the current Philippine force are under 23, mixed with veteran players such as 36-year-old midfielder Stephan Schrock, defender Amani Aguinaldo or striker Mark Hartmann - who has scored the most goals for the Philippines (eight goals after 34). battle). In particular, the role of Schrock is almost as an assistant coach to impart experience and mentor young players.
Their current squad also has 10 players playing abroad, mostly in the Thai and Malaysian championships. In addition, the Tabinas brothers attracted attention when the big brother Jefferson occupied the right-back starting position at Mito Hollyhock in J-League 2, while younger brother Paul played for Iwate Grulla Morioka in J-League 3. In addition, they also there are 22-year-old midfielder Michael Baldisimo playing for San Jose Earthquakes in the American professional football league - MLS, or 20-year-old striker Sebastian Rasmussen playing for Randers Freja in Denmark's fourth division.
For the past three weeks, the Philippines has trained under the temporary direction of assistant John Paul Merida after parting with coach Thomas Dooley. It was not until December 8 that the Philippine Football Federation signed a contract with coach Josep Ferre Ybarz (nicknamed Coco). "Josep's experience of coaching at Barcelona and various professional clubs is well suited to the Philippines' squad of young and dynamic players," said team leader Dan Palami.
Coach Josep Ferre was born in 1983 in Catalonia, Spain. He started his coaching career when he was over 20 years old at youth training centers in his hometown such as CE Europa, CE Premia and especially Barcelona. After that, he went to Asia to work and started in Hong Kong with the most famous club Kitchee SC.
At the age of 30, coach Ferre went to Thailand to work as the director of Buriram United academy in the period 2013-2014, and then worked as a coach of Ratchaburi and Bangkok Glass. In general, coach Ferre's military career is not very impressive and often leaves the team after one to two years. In 2018, he worked as an assistant coach and video analyst at East Bengal Club. After two years of being affected by the Covid-19 epidemic, he took time to rest and in early 2022 accepted the invitation to lead amateur club Asco in his hometown of Catalonia.
Coach Ferre has less than two weeks to work with the Philippines before entering the AFF Cup 2022. He will make his debut when the team plays a friendly against Vietnam on the afternoon of December 14 at Hang Day Stadium. Tomorrow morning, December 13, the Philippines will be in Hanoi and only have one practice session before the competition.
In the last encounter, the Philippines lost to Vietnam in the semi-finals of the AFF Cup 2018, with a score of 1-2 in two matches.
In the AFF Cup 2022, the Philippines is in Group A with Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia and Brunei. After a friendly match against Vietnam, they played their opening match away against Cambodia on December 20.
