The Philippines are in Group B of the 2024 AFF Cup (newly named ASEAN Cup) with Vietnam, Indonesia, Laos and Myanmar. In fact, this is a team with quality players in the squad, but their performance has been declining recently. Coach Tom Saintfiet had to leave and make way for his colleague Albert Capellas.
The AFF Cup is a tournament that does not take place during the FIFA Days, so clubs have the right to decide whether to release players to the national team or not. Therefore, “The Azkals” are “holding their breath” waiting for the move from Thai League clubs, because their squad has many players playing in the Golden Temple country.
First of all, we need to mention the captain - goalkeeper Neil Etheridge - a pillar of Buriram United. December is the time when Thai League 1 is still taking place.
In addition to Etheridge, the Philippines also has Tabias (Buriram United), Scott Woods (Muangthong), Aguinaldo (Rayong FC) and Linares (Lamphun Warriors).
If the above players do not participate in the Southeast Asian championship, the Philippines' defense will collapse. But even if they play for the national team, the strength of the Philippines is still a question mark.
In the last 5 matches, including official matches and international friendlies, the Philippines team lost all of them. They only scored 2 goals against their opponents once, and that was the match against Vietnam in the second qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup. However, those goals came from silly mistakes by the Vietnamese defenders rather than the efforts of the Philippine strikers.
Coach Capellas can now only put his trust in a few players playing in Europe such as Santiago Rublico (Collado Villalba), Michael Kempter (Grasshopper) or Gerrit Holtmann (Bochum). Among them, Holtmann has just set a record as the fastest player in the history of the German national championship (Bundesliga).
But, as mentioned, coach Capellas has not had much time to arrange the squad and build a new playing philosophy for the Philippines team. The recent loss to Hong Kong (China) disappointed fans in this island nation.
The Philippines' squad in this match is almost at its strongest and is only missing 2-3 important players. If the Philippines team is missing more players, they will have to call up many players who are playing domestically and their strength will be further reduced. Therefore, not many people believe in the Philippines' goal of passing the group stage.
Even if there is an attractive performance against Indonesia and Vietnam, this is considered a plus point for Mr. Capellas and his team. The most practical goal for the Philippines at this time is to win against Laos and Myanmar.
