The Philippine national men’s football team, led by veteran booters Kevin Ingreso and Jarvey Gayoso, will have 17 days to get ready for their home-and-away-matches against Iraq in the second round of the Asian qualifiers of the FIFA World Cup 2026.
Ingreso and Gayoso are the most experienced players of the squad that will form part of the core of players of Team Philippines, being restructured to compete in coming international meets.
The 31-year-old Ingreso and the 27-year-old Gayoso joined a 33-man squad called up to see action first in Team Philippines’ home-and-away showdown with Iraq on March 20 in Basra and on March 26 in Manila.
The two expressed their confidence in leading a squad made up mostly of collegiate players in the ongoing University Athletic Association of the Philippines competitions.
“We have been training for days. And we’re here for the World Cup qualifiers,” said Gayoso.
Newly-appointed national coach Tom Saintfiet is in the process of making decisions on who will make the squad when they start holding training camps and open tryouts this Friday.
“With my coaching staff, we’re hoping to build something and achieve the goal of going to the 2027 Asian Cup,” said Saintfiet after Friday’s open tryout and practices.
Assistant coach Norman Fegidero said they now have a wide selection of players to choose from, with the improvement in the pool of talents in the collegiate football scene.
“We’re improving, that’s for sure. We are putting up a competitive team for the qualifiers, first against Iraq. Marami na tayong quality players,” stated Fegidero.
A pool of around five squads have been formed as Saintfiet and his group of coaches make their choices.
Sainfiet, who is from Belgium, took over from Hans Michael Weiss in mid-February, after quitting as the head coach of the Gambian national squad last January.