Azkals team captain Stephan Schrock during their training in Singapore before the start of the AFF Suzuki Cup. | Photo from the Azkals Facebook page.
CEBU CITY, Philippines—The Philippine Azkals will start their campaign in the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Suzuki Cup on Wednesday, December 8, 2021, against host country Singapore at the Singapore Sports Hub.
Their match versus Singapore under Group A starts at 8:30 p.m.
This roster of the Azkals is a combination of familiar faces and young booters from the Azkals Developmental Team.
The team is headed by Azkals veteran and team captain Stephan Schrock along with fellow Azkals campaigners in Kevin Ingreso, Kenshiro Daniels, Iain Ramsay, Mike Ott, Angel Guirado, Amani Aguinaldo, Daisuke Sato, Martin Steuble, Bienvenido Maranon, and Patrick Reichelt.
The rest of the team is composed of Azkals developmental team members Quincy Kammeraad, Mark Vincent Diano, Christian Rontini, Oliver Bias, Dennis Chung, Yrick Gallantes, Sandro Miguel Reyes, Matthew Custodio, and Oskari Kekkonen. They are joined by Justin Baas, Keven Ray Hansen, Bernd Schipmann, Jefferson Tabinas, Jesper Nyholm, Harry Foll, and Amin Nazari.
The team’s head coach is Scott Cooper.
In total, the Azkals played a total of 45 matches in the AFF Suzuki Cup history. They also played four times in the semifinals and tallied 35 total goals.
They will be missing key players in this edition of the AFF Suzuki Cup due to the tournament not being part of the FIFA Calendar.
They could have had the services of Neil Etheridge, Gerrit Holtmann, Raphael Obermair, Patrick Strauss, and Michael Kempter, who are all currently playing for their mother clubs.
Other key players like Manny Ott, Jarvey Gayoso, Michael Baldissimo, Matthew Baldissimo, Adrian Ugelvik, Carlie De Murga, and Sebastian Rasmussen are nursing injuries.
Despite missing key players, the team will rely on the Azkals Developmental Team that saw action in Singapore earlier this year for the AFC U23 Asian Cup Qualifiers, which Cooper supervised.
After Singapore, the Azkals will face Timor Leste on December 11 and five-time AFF Suzuki Cup champions Thailand on December 14, and Myanmar on December 18.
/bmjo
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