Source: Daily Inquirer
MANILA---The Philippine football team arrived in Ulan Bator early Sunday and got a chilling reminder that it’s more than just Mongolia it will have to deal with in the second leg of its AFC Challenge Cup duel.
Temperatures ranging from minus 16 to minus 20 degrees Celsius greeted the Azkals in their first few hours in the Mongolian capital, where they will be hoping to protect their 2-nil first-leg advantage.
The Mongolians need to win by at least three goals to prevent the Azkals from advancing to the AFC group stage, but the Azkals’ coach Hans Michael Weiss is confident they can survive the challenge.
“My team must stand this character test,” said Weiss in an e-mail to the Inquirer. “The preparations have been very good and done in a professional environment (in Japan). It could not have been better.”
Weiss took the two losses to a Japanese university side in stride, saying the team learned much from the experience.
“Training in Japan helped a lot,” said Weiss, whose squad were outscored 1-12 in two matches against Kanto University. “Even with two hard defeats, the team learned.”
Azkals team manager Dan Palami is also upbeat with the team’s chances.
“It’s just another adversity that the team has to overcome,” he said. “I know the players very well and rest assured, they will be there fighting for every ball on Tuesday despite the cold.”
But concerns remain on how the players will deal with the extreme weather in Ulan Bator, which is about 4,300 feet above sea level.
“It was freezing out there, we couldn’t stay put,” Borromeo told the Inquirer in an e-mail after checking out the artificial turf at the playing venue. “We had to keep moving. I think we will be okay once we get warmed up.”
Borromeo added: “It would really help tremendously if there won’t be a wind chill and that the sun would come out.”
“We will just try our best to overcome the cold,” said co-skipper Chieffy Caligdong, the scorer of the first goal in the opening leg in Bacolod City last Feb. 9, in a separate interview.
The match is scheduled on Tuesday at 1 p.m., said to be the hottest time of the day in Ulan Bator.
“It’s really cold especially when the wind is blowing,” said defender Jason Sabio. “But otherwise, it’s no problem.”
Temperatures ranging from minus 16 to minus 20 degrees Celsius greeted the Azkals in their first few hours in the Mongolian capital, where they will be hoping to protect their 2-nil first-leg advantage.
The Mongolians need to win by at least three goals to prevent the Azkals from advancing to the AFC group stage, but the Azkals’ coach Hans Michael Weiss is confident they can survive the challenge.
“My team must stand this character test,” said Weiss in an e-mail to the Inquirer. “The preparations have been very good and done in a professional environment (in Japan). It could not have been better.”
Weiss took the two losses to a Japanese university side in stride, saying the team learned much from the experience.
“Training in Japan helped a lot,” said Weiss, whose squad were outscored 1-12 in two matches against Kanto University. “Even with two hard defeats, the team learned.”
Azkals team manager Dan Palami is also upbeat with the team’s chances.
“It’s just another adversity that the team has to overcome,” he said. “I know the players very well and rest assured, they will be there fighting for every ball on Tuesday despite the cold.”
But concerns remain on how the players will deal with the extreme weather in Ulan Bator, which is about 4,300 feet above sea level.
“It was freezing out there, we couldn’t stay put,” Borromeo told the Inquirer in an e-mail after checking out the artificial turf at the playing venue. “We had to keep moving. I think we will be okay once we get warmed up.”
Borromeo added: “It would really help tremendously if there won’t be a wind chill and that the sun would come out.”
“We will just try our best to overcome the cold,” said co-skipper Chieffy Caligdong, the scorer of the first goal in the opening leg in Bacolod City last Feb. 9, in a separate interview.
The match is scheduled on Tuesday at 1 p.m., said to be the hottest time of the day in Ulan Bator.
“It’s really cold especially when the wind is blowing,” said defender Jason Sabio. “But otherwise, it’s no problem.”
An askal is a Filipino term for any dog with no pedigree, no breed, no class. The askal is usually astray, unsupported and survives by feeding on whatever provision it can find. The Filipino national football team can relate to this mongrel, they have almost no support from a government thats suppose to support them, they are underdogs not just only to the world but even in their own region, South East Asia.
Name: Angel Guirado Aldeguer
Stephan Schröck - nicknamed "Schröcky", is a German–Filipino professional footballer who plays as a right back for 2nd Bundesliga club SpVgg Greuther Fürth.
