MANILA, November 9 ------ Long-time goalkeeper Neil Etheridge banners the Philippine Azkals in the first two matches of the FIFA World Cup 2026 and AFC Asian Cup 2027 Preliminary Joint Qualifiers Round 2. Ethridge was among the 26 players listed by the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) that will be donning the country’s tri-colors when they face Vietnam on November 16 and Indonesia on November 21 at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium in Manila. He will also be the captain of the team that features the likes of Manny Ott, Patrick Reichelt, Mike Ott, Kenshiro Daniels, OJ Porteria, and Daisuke Sato.
Men's national team coach Michael Weiss said he based his selection on player availability as well as the last five FIFA International Friendly matches against Nepal, Chinese Taipei, Afghanistan, and Bahrain from June to October 2023. “It’s a good mixture of experienced mainstays for a long time and young well-developing talents brought on by the recent performances of Philippine clubs in AFC competitions," said Weiss. “It gives us reason to be optimistic for our first World Cup qualifier matches against Vietnam and Indonesia." he added.
With two Southeast Asian rivals arriving for the two matches, Weiss hopes that the home
support will help propel his squad to important results. The PFF also launched the campaign #StandYourGround #10KStrong to encourage support for the team in the first two matches of the qualifiers. “A very important factor is the enthusiasm and support of the 12th man,” said Weiss. “We hope the fans come in numbers to the stadium, and be part of history.”
Here is the complete list of the Azkals’ roster:
ETHERIDGE, Neil Leonard
HANSEN, Kevin Ray
DEYTO, Patrick Phillip
ROTA, Simone
MARTINEZ DE MURGA, Carlos Alberto
TABINAS, Jefferson David
RONTINI, Christian
CURRAN, Jesse Thomas
SATO, Daisuke
RUBLICO, Santiago
VILLANUEVA, Dennis
LYNGBO, Simen Alexander
BUGAS, Pocholo
PORTERIA, Jose Elmer
OTT, Manuel
OTT, Mike Rigoberto
KEKKONEN, Oskari
INGRESO, Kevin
BAAS, Mikel Justin
REICHELT, Patrick
MARAÑON, Bienvenido
MENZI, Audie
ANGELES, Marwin Janver
MELLIZA, Jesus Joaquin
DANIELS, Kenshiro Michael
SCHRÖCK, Stephan Markus
Source: news.abs-cbn.com