October is going to be a crucial month for the Azkals as they aim to bounce back from their catastrophic home loss against Uzbekistan. The next two 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying fixtures for the Azkals are tricky away games against North Korea and Bahrain. However, before these two fixtures, a friendly match against Vietnam was scheduled on October 3. That match is now in the process of being cancelled.
“Yesterday I have formally called for the cancellation of the friendly between the Philippines and Vietnam. I hope to receive a reply from Vietnam within today or tomorrow”, explained Gastanes.
The PFF General Secretary said that the main reason why the friendly game against Vietnam was to be cancelled is that a lot of the Azkals wouldn’t have been available on October 3 with the FIFA international window only to open two days after the match. “We can’t have several of our foreign based players for the October 3 game and some local based players also will be in the RHB Singapore Cup for two-leg matches on September 28 and October 1. I’m talking about Global FC players.”
Nevertheless, Gastanes said that there shall be a tune-up match for the Azkals in preparation for their games against North Korea and Bahrain.
