The Philippine Azkals. | Photo from PFF Website.
CEBU CITY, Philippines—The Philippine Men’s National Football Team, popularly known as the Philippine Azkals, will be grouped with the hosts Mongolia in the upcoming Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup China 2023 Qualifiers.
The Azkals belong to Group B after the competition draw last February 24 in Malaysia. The Azkals are grouped with Palestine, Yemen, and Mongolia.
Mongolia will host the Group B’s qualifying matches from June 8 to 14, 2022 in its capital in Ulaanbaatar.
Meanwhile, Group A is comprised of Jordan, Kuwaiit, Indonesia, and Nepal. Group C has Uzbekistan, Thailand, Maldives, and Sri Lanka.
Group D is composed of India, Hong Kong, Afghanistan, and Cambodia while Group E is played between Bahrain, Turkmenistan, and Bangladesh. Lastly, Group F has Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Myanmar, and Singapore.
The top team together with the five best second placed teams in the qualifiers will book a ticket to the final round to be held in China in 2023.
The Azkals look to qualify for the AFC Asian Cup for the second straight time after they made it in the 2019 edition for the first time in Dubai, UAE.
However, they were booted out of the tournament after finishing at the bottom of the group stage in the 2019 edition of the AFC Cup. They lost all three matches against Kyrgyzstan, China, and South Korea.
The last time the Azkals saw action was during the Asean Football Federation (AFF) Suzuki Cup in Singapore last year.
They were also booted out of the tournament during the group stage. They finished their campaign at third place in Group A with six points off two victories and two defeats.
/bmjo
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