THE Philippine national men’s football team is a work in progress, going into their first game at home in the ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup 2024.
The changes that the squad went through will be seen as the Philippine side clashes with Myanmar at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium in Manila.
“We are excited. It’s a very important game, being my first game at home,” said national coach Albert Capellas, who will debut on his first home game for the Philippines.
Veterans like Geritt Holtmann, Manny Ott, Kevin Ingreso, Kevin Mendoza, and Dylan Demuynck will be part of the 26-man lineup that Capellas recently unveiled.
Many Filipino players seeing action in overseas leagues are not around and the Philippine Football Federation was not able to secure their release from their mother clubs in time.
Myanmar, also known as the Chinthe and handled by coaching legend Myo Hlaing Win, fell in a 0-1 loss to Indonesia on home soil at the Thuwunna Stadium on Monday in Yangon.
Myo, who brought a new generation of star strikers Kyaw Ko Ko and Aung Thu, said the squad will seek to bounce back from their loss to Indonesia.
“We are preparing. We will try to win tomorrow,” said Myo, who used to be a top scorer for the Myanmar side, when he last played back in 1998.
The Philippines won over the Chinthes, 3-2, in the 2021 AFF-Suzuki Cup in Singapore.
“This is very different team now. We are focused on what this team will do. They are very good and experienced,” added Myo.
