The Philippine national men’s football team will play Kyrgyzstan and Bahrain during its 10-day training camp in Manama as part of its 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
Azkals head coach Hans Michael Weiss said in a virtual press conference yesterday that the friendlies will play a crucial role in the squad’s prep for the 16 November clash with Vietnam at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.
While these are goodwill games, Weiss believes the two matches will be competitive given the lofty rating of Bahrain (No. 86) and Kyrgyzstan (No. 96).
The Azkals are rated No. 135th.
The last time the Azkals battled Bahrain, the Middle East team ran away with a 2-0 victory during the second round of the 2018 WC Qualifiers. Against Kyrgyzstan, the Azkals fell, 3-1, in January 2019 in the group stages of the Asian Football Confederation Asian Cup.
“The target is to stay in Bahrain for a short period of the camp. I wanted to have two games and we got two games and we have eight to nine days to jell and analyze,” Weiss said.
“We will play against Kyrgyzstan on the 15th in the morning with full squads and on the 17th will be our match against Bahrain,” he added.
Veteran goalkeeper Niel Etheridge will be leading the 25-man pool for the Azkals along with midfielder Sandro Reyes and Atletico de Madrid under-19 right-back Santi Rublico.
After Vietnam, the Azkals face the winner of the Brunei-Indonesia tussle on 21 November.
Weiss said their plan for the second round is to build the best team from the players who are available and committed to playing for the country.
