Azkals expected in Ulan Bator today

by Cedelf P. Tupas


MANILA�The gripping journey included two train rides and offered the Philippine football team an actual glimpse of the devastation in earthquake and tsunami-hit Japan.

The Azkals managed to survive yesterday the transportation crisis that hounded Japan, arriving in Tokyo just in time to catch their flight to Beijing, where they will take another plane to the Mongolian capital of Ulan Bator.

The Azkals were scheduled to arrive in Ulan Bator early this morning, three days before the second leg of their AFC Challenge Cup qualifying duel with Mongolia.

�It was a long journey for the team, but we are happy that the team made it,� said Philippine Football Federation president Mariano �Nonong� Araneta. �Now they can focus on the match.�

For awhile Friday night, the prospect of the Azkals reaching Ulan Bator on schedule looked dim with roads to Tokyo damaged by the earthquake measured at 8.9 on the Richter Scale and operations at the Narita Airport came to a halt.

Gotemba, where the Azkals trained to acclimatize with Ulan Bator�s cold weather, is located in Southern Japan and is a three-hour drive from Tokyo.

The scenario was so serious that Araneta had broached the possibility of requesting the AFC to move the match to March 16.

But things started to normalize yesterday and the Azkals left Gotemba early Saturday morning. After a short bus ride, the team took the bullet train to Tokyo then transferred to another train to the airport.

The Azkals met up with teammate Jason Sabio, who spent the night at the airport after spending eight hours on the Japan Airlines plane that brought him to Tokyo from Chicago parked on the tarmac.

Another teammate, Simon Greatwich, found his United Airlines flight to Tokyo from Houston Friday diverted to Osaka. Greatwich flew to Incheon, South Korea, and will take a flight to Ulan Bator Saturday.

inquirer.net