MANILA, Philippines – There will be changes in the composition of the Philippine Azkals when they face Uzbekistan in their FIFA World Cup qualifier match on Sept. 8 at the Philippine Sports Stadium in Bocaue, Bulacan.
The Philippine Football Federation has added three new players to replace defender Rob Gier, forward Mark Hartmann and goalkeeper Tomas Trigo. Gier was put on the back burner because of a knee injury while Hartmann and Trigo were taken out.
The three new players are Filipino-German goalkeeper Roland Muller, Filipino-Dutch midfielder Paul Mulders and United Football League (UFL) team Global FC goalkeeper Jun-jun Badelic of Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon.
Muller joined the Philippine national’s team training in 2011 and was eventually named in the final 20-man squad for the 2011 Long Teng Cup and the provisional Philippines under-23 squad for the 2011 Southeast Asian Games.
In 2013, he was named to the Philippine squad for the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup qualification campaign, which he helped qualify. Muller’s last played for the Azkals in the 2014 Peace Cup.
Mulders was a free agent in July 2013 and lent his services to the Global FC team to boost their campaign for the Singapore Cup. On January 20, 2014, Mulders signed an amateur deal with Dutch football club SC Cambuur playing in the Dutch Eredivisie until the end of the season.
Mulders played in the 2014 AFF Suzuki Cup and presently he is playing for Ceres La Salle FC in the UFL.
Badelic played a year of NCAA football with Emilio Aguinaldo. He came on as a late substitute for Global in their tune-up game against the Azkals before the Suzuki Cup. He played in the AFC Under-23 Championships and the 2015 Southeast Asian Games.
The team will play a friendly match against Maldives on September 3 at the Rizal Memorial Stadium before meeting the Uzbeks on September 8 in a crucial qualifying game for the 2018 World Cup.
Completing the Azkals squad are Amani Aguinaldo, Misagh Bahadoran, Kenshiro Daniels, Patrick Deyto, Neil Etherdige, Juani Guirado, Kevin Ingreso, Jerry Lucena, Manny Ott, Stephan Palla, Javier Patiño, Iain Ramsay, Patrick Reichelt, Simone Rota, Daisuke Sato, Stephan Schrock, Martin Steuble, Dennis Villanueva, Luke Woodland, and Phil Younghusband.
Tickets for the Azkals vs. Uzbekistan game to be held at the Philippine Sports Stadium on September 8, 2015 are now available at www.ticketworld.com.ph. Tickets are at P531.80 for Price Zone 1, P331.14 for Price Zone 2 and P125.40 for Price Zone 3.