MANILA – The Philippine men’s football team is looking to beef up its 23-man squad ahead of the Asian Football Federation Suzuki Cup this year by injecting young bloods sourced from its Azkals developmental team (ADT).
Azkals head coach Scott Cooper said that he is in the process of forming his developmental squad by scouting for potential young talents eligible to play for the national team.
“We’re revitalizing the current team, searching for new potential impact players while the ADT program is up and running,” said Cooper. “We’ve been able to identify younger players with specific talents who have a bright future ahead.”
“The team is playing more offensive than ever, and it looks like they can play against any other team anywhere. Our future is bright. We are very optimistic. And we’re putting plans in place to continue our development,” he added.
Azkals team manager Dan Palami, for his part, says he can already feel the hype of the program that Cooper is building not only for the AFF Suzuki Cup but also for other future international competitions.
Palami said: “There is now a belief in the players and staff that performing well against much higher ranked countries isn’t rare. We’re more confident that we can be one of the best teams in Asia.”
“There is certainly a paradigm shift in terms of the culture that we have in the team,” he added.
Currently, the Azkal’s training camps are still on hold due to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic./PN
