Young guns called up for Azkals’ Mitsubishi Electric Cup pool

It will be a mix of young stars and veterans for the Philippine Men’s National Football Team as it looks to redeem itself in the upcoming 2022 Mitsubishi Electric Cup.

Based on an announcement from the team’s social media pages, a total of 45 players — mostly coming from the Philippines Football League — have been called up as the nation prepares for Southeast Asia’s biggest tournament.

The likes of Kevin Ray Hansen, Anthony Pinthus, Julian Schwarzer, and Enrico Mangaoang have been called up to compete to be the goalkeeper between the sticks.

In front of them, Amani Aguinaldo, Jesse Curran, Jesper Nyholm, Jefferson Tabinas, Dylan De Bruyker, Christian Rontini, Marco Casambre, Jaime Rosquillo, Kouichi Belgira, Audie Menzi, Simen Lyngbo, Pete Forrosuelo, Kenshiro Daniels, Kamil Amirul, and Haren de Gracia will compete to form the team’s backline.

For the midfield, Stephan Schrock, Oskari Kekkonen, Michael Baldismo, Oliver Bias, Hikaru Minegishi, Kenshiro Daniels, Dennis Chung, Eric Ben Giganto, Arnel Amita, Jhan Jhan Melliza, Pocholo Bugas, JB Borlongan, Bryan Ybanez, Sandro Reyes, Chester Pabualan, Harry Nunez, Justin Frias, Jacob Maniti, and Cyrelle Saut shall fight for places in the middle of the park.

In attack, Jarvey Gayoso, Ivan Ouano, Griffin McDaniel, Mark Hartmann, Sebastian Rasmussen, Dov Carino, and Andres Aldeguer will be relied on to put the ball at the back of the net.

There is still no word, though, who will be the coach of the Azkals for this tournament.

The Azkals look to return to the semifinals for the first time since 2018 after failing to do so last year. They are grouped with Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, and Brunei in Group A.