As the 2018 FIFA World Cup/2019 AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers continue, the Philippine national men’s football team [Azkals] gets another chance to get themselves back on track after their recent losses. Although team captain Phil Younghusband will be due to yellow card accumulation, the Azkals are still confident about the upcoming match against Yemen. Stephan Schröck will be one of the leaders motivating the players on the field, as he is the co-captain.
Schröck is convinced their recent losses will not distract them during the game. “After losing the points in Bahrain, it was a disappointing loss, but despite that, now that we have a home game, we always want to win, [and] that’s what we will do,” he pointed out. This time, the Filipinos have home-court advantage, which makes things a little easier than in their last outing, but the co-captain explained that, “I’m the type of guy who’s always looking forward, I can learn from the past but all games start with 0:0, so it might be totally different this time but I hope for the best.”
During their match against Yemen in the first round, the midfielder was out of action, due to a knee injury sustained in the preceding battle against Bahrain. But being on the sidelines allowed him to observe how both teams played. Indeed, it was a piece of cake that night in Doha for the Azkals, but Schröck clarified that anything is possible in the second round. “The team won, I wasn’t there but I know we will push harder in this game, I will try to help the team to win this second time and make sure we have that three points,” he said with confidence.
