PERENT

RP soccer team upbeat despite tall Tajikistans presence

By REUBEN TERRADO
Business Mirror Correspondent

National mens football coach Norman Fegidero is upbeat about his teams chances in the five-day Asian Football Confederation Challenge Cup qualifiers that begin May 13 in Iloilo. This, despite the tough challenge a former Soviet republic is expected to pose on the hosts.

“The qualifiers are very winnable. We have a good chance winning against Brunei Darussalam and Bhutan. The only hurdle will be Tajikistan,” Fegidero said in a recent phone interview from Iloilo.

The Filipino booters will open their campaign in the Group B qualifiers against Brunei Darussalam on May 13 and play Bhutan on May 17.

Sandwiched in between the two relatively easy assignments is the Tajikistan game scheduled on May 15.

The Tajiks are the defending champions and, because they boast of tall players, are again heavy favorites to win.

That is why Fegidero, a former national team player who scored the goal in the Philippines 1-0 upset win over Malaysia during the 1991 Manila Southeast Asian Games, strongly considered height in putting up his roster, which includes England-based goalkeeper Neil Ethridge, Phil and James Younghusband and six-foot homegrown Ali Borromeo.

“We have hired top tall players to try to counter their height disadvantage,” said Fegidero.

Fegidero is also expecting the home crowd to be a factor as he is expecting throngs of football fans in Iloilo, a football hotbed, to troop the Iloilo Sports Complex and the Barotac Nuevo Football Field to cheer on the Filipinos.

Also bannering the Nationals are England-based Chris Greatwich and James Hall, and local veterans Anton del Rosario, Emelio Caligdong, collegiate stalwarts Jason Cordova and Glester Sobremisana of Far Eastern U, Ricardo Becite and Meliton Pelayo of Santo Tomas U.

The team is currently in Iloilo and has played a series of friendly matches against local squads in Dumaguete, San Carlos City and Cebu.

The Nationals also hope to play friendly matches in Macau next week before the qualifiers.

The nation that tops the group will join seeded nations North Korea, Turkmenistan, India, Myanmar, Group A champion Sri Lanka, and two more group winners in the Asian Challenge Cup, a tournament for lower-ranked Asian nations, to be held from July 30 to August 10 in India.

The Philippines tallied two draws and a loss in the 2006 edition in Bangladesh, but failed to make it into the quarterfinal round.