PLANS are afoot to retain most of the members of the Philippine national men’s football team that made it to the semifinals of the ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup 2024 recently.
Philippine Football Federation national training director Freddy Gonzalez said this following the national squad’s memorable stint in the tournament.
“A lot of them will still be there,” said Gonzalez, referring to the players who performed well during the tournament.
One of them is 21-year-old, Makati-born Sandro Reyes, who had two unforgettable goals, a late, equalizing goal against Laos and an opening kick in their first semis match against Thailand.
Gonzalez agrees in what coach Albert Capellas has seen in the team —that it has reached a new level of playing the sport.
And it took years for a new generation of players to get there, ever since the Philippines reached the semifinals in 2010.
With Reyes are a new batch of stars in the squad, which include striker Bjørn Kristensen, Jarvey Gayoso, Kike Linares and goalkeeper Quincy Kammeraad.
Gonzalez added that they can still include players who were not able to join the ASEAN meet since they were not available for the tournament.
And they can be inserted in the roster by March, when the national squad starts seeking qualification for the Asian Cup.
Among those in Gonzalez’s sights are Kevin Mendoza, Jeff Tabinas and Jessie Curran, who were not released by their clubs.
Mendoza plays for Persib Bandung of Indonesia, Tabinas is with Thailand’s Buriram United and Curran is with another Thai team Ratchaburi.
