No quarters given as Mongolia says no to Azkals' bid

By FRANCIS SANTIAGO

MANILA, Philippines � The Philippine Azkals will push through with their training in Japan next month after the Mongolian Football Federation turned down the team�s request to train there one week before their AFC Challenge Cup qualifying rematch against the Blue Wolves.

Philippine Football Federation president Mariano �Nonong� Araneta, who was in Kuala Lumpur attending an ASEAN Football Federation meeting, said Saturday the team will leave for Japan on March 7.

Team coordinator Patrick Ace Bright said the Azkals will stay in Japan until March 13 before flying to Ulan Bator for the March 15 tiff where cold weather � between -2 and -15 degrees Celsius � is expected.

To get acclimatized, Araneta earlier requested the MFF to allow the Filipinos to practice in an artificial pitch there at least one week before the match.

But it was rejected, forcing them to consider going to Japan, which is also a good venue to get acclimatized since it is also experiencing winter weather.

By rejecting the Azkals, Mongolia has indicated that it will do everything to gain every advantage to get even with the Philippines which won their first game in Bacolod City, 2-0. To deny the Philippine side to advance, Mongolia must score three more goals than the Azkals.

If the Philippines topple Mongolia in their play-off match, it will join Myanmar, Bangladesh and Palestine in the group stage matches, which will be played in Yangon, Myanmar � and not Bangladesh, according to an AFC report in its website. These nations will comprise the Group A.

AFC also announced that Group B will be played in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and the participating teams are 2008 champions India, Pakistan, Chinese Taipei and Turkmenistan. Group C will be hosted by Maldives in Male. The teams are Maldives, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Cambodia.

Group D will be played in Kathmandu, Nepal with the teams being defending champion Korea, Sri Lanka, and the winners of the play-offs match between Bhutan and Afghanistan.

The group competitions are set March 20-31 with the top two finishers in each group moving in the next level for the finals.

The Azkals start their high-altitude training in Baguio City tomorrow under German coach Hans Michael Weiss, who just came back from a one-week respite in Japan.

Azkals seeded
Araneta said the for the first time in history, the Azkals will be among the six seeded teams when the AFF Suzuki Cup, the most prestigious tournament in the Asean region, fires off next year.

�Owing to our semifinals finish last year, we gained enough points to be among the seeded teams,� said Araneta, adding that Thailand and Malaysia will host the group stage matches.

�We�re actually tied with Myanmar for the sixth spot, but organizers chose us to be the seeded team.�

The other five seeded teams are Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and defending champion Malaysia.

The Azkals reached the Suzuki semifinals for the first time last year, but failed to advance to the finals after losing to Indonesia on aggregate 2-0 score.

The Azkals also pulled the rug from under Vietnam, 2-0, in the ealy rounds that set the stage for the Azkals� brush with fame.

Manila Bulletin