A few weeks back, Freddy Gonzalez, the team manager and Director for National Senior Teams of the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) revealed that the Filipinas, the Philippine National Women’s Football Team, is slated to figure in a tournament in China as part of its preparation for big tournaments this year and the quest to book a return ticket to the next FIFA Women’s World Cup.
The Philippines was supposedly set to participate in the CFA Team China Tea Mountain Bamboo Forest Cup or the International Women’s Football Tournament Yongchuan 2025 from April 5 to April 8.
In an information shared by The Rampaging FullBack and good friend Ryan Fenix, the Philippine is absent in the four-team tournament. Aside from the host team China, Thailand, Uzbekistan and Zambia will duke it out in a format similar to the King’s Cup.
China will face Uzbekistan in the first game on April 4, while Zambia battles Thailand in the second match at the Yongchuan Sports Center Stadium. The winners will advance to the finals on April 8, while the losers will figure in the battle for third.
Some people are asking what happened to the plan to participate in the Yongchuan tournament? Gonzalez revealed that logistical concerns were among the primary reasons why the PFF opted out of the tournament.
“It was a big challenge logistically for the players to get there. People forget that the players travel from all over the world and it’s not a direct location so some players had three to four connections just to get to the area,” he explained.
Then again some fans would chime in “kung gusto, gagawan ng paraan” which is actually true to some extent. But before more criticisms come his way, Gonzalez explained further.
“United Arab Emirates (UAE) then came along and made the team a really good offer so the coaching staff decided that it would be better to do that. Better offer in terms of what will be covered by the UAE as well as two official friendly matches,” he revealed.
According to Gonzalez, if plans push through, these matches will happen next month.
“April 4 and April 8, I believe. One is versus UAE, which apparently has been recruiting some new players so it should be an interesting match. Good opportunity too for the coaching staff to really test the new style of play,” Gonzalez said.
After the UAE tuneups, Gonzalez added the PFF is arranging another friendly in the next FIFA window in May for the Filipinas.
“The next window will be two games against Chinese Taipei in Manila,” he added.
Not to belittle the quality of the UAE and Chinese Taipei, competing against China, Thailand and Zambia will be a hard test on the current form of the Filipinas. The quality of the opposing teams will be top notch. It is also a good follow up on the national camp held recently. But then again, logistics may come in various forms and essence. None of which can be used to buy even a single ticket or pay for a hotel room. So are we going to continue to gnash our teeth and bash people on this matter? I hope not. But this doesn’t mean that we will let the PFF get a pass at the expense of our beloved Filipinas.
Moving on to the Men’s National Football Team, Gonzalez says the squad is still in good spirits despite the absence of Gerrit Holtmann, Javier Mariona and Dylan Demuncyk. He is confident that the squad’s depth will be enough to cushion the impact of the missing players. He says the team has a lot of quality that can compensate for the absence of the three which means there will be no additional new players coming in except for Josh Meriño, who is playing for the Youth National Team in the Philippines Football League.
“No replacements. Just Meriño coming in to fill out the 23 player roster as he is already familiar with the system. He will continue to grow as a player learning from Jesper, Paul, Jeff, Amani, Josef, Michael and more,” Gonzalez explained.
Gonzalez also gave an update on the efforts to facilitate the documents and papers of several high profile prospects. He said that he was able to meet up with Senator Pia Cayetano last week with head coach Albert Capellas and Coach Carles Cuadrat to update efforts on the naturalization efforts of the Markanich and Wolff brothers and many more.
“It’s too bad that André Leipold only got his passport done now. He won’t be present against Maldives, but he will be playing in June,” Gonzalez said. Leipold plays forward for FK Pardubice in the Czech First League.
I’m just hoping that the team, formerly known as the Azkals, will hurdle Maldives first, before setting its sights on the succeeding games. Many say that despite several missing names in the ongoing camp right now, the Men’s national squad remains the strongest one assembled in years. Saying and basing it on paper is totally different from actually playing against them.
I just hope hubris will not bite us back, like what is happening right now to someone we all know.
Stay safe. Stay happy peeps!
For comments or questions, you can reach The Designated Kit Man at erel_cabatbat@yahoo.com or follow his account at Twitter: @erelcabatbat