Neil Etheridge is rejoining the Philippine Azkals National Men’s Football Team as its team captain and goalkeeper for the AFC Asian Cup 2023 Qualifiers.
The first player of Filipino descent in the English Premier League is once again donning the colors of his mother’s homeland as the Azkals play a trio of matches in Mongolia in the third qualifying round against the following teams:
- Yemen on Wednesday, June 8
- Mongolia on Saturday, June 11
- Palestine on Tuesday, June 14
All matches will be played at the Football Center MFF in the capital Ulaanbaatar which can be viewed on Livestream via the SPS Television channels.
The Filipino-British veteran goalkeeper of the Birmingham City FC and the Philippines played big roles in the country’s historic 2019 campaign to land a spot in the World Cup.
The 24-man Philippine Azkals team coached by Thomas Dooley is looking to qualify for the 2023 Asian Cup either as winners of Group B or by being one of the five best runners-up.
Joining Etheridge on the team are naturalized forward Bienvenido Marañon of Spain and left-winger Gerrit Holtmann of Germany who is set to debut with the Azkals.
The Philippine Azkals will also have players from the historic Asian Cup 2019 team: Kevin Hansen, Manuel Ott, Mike Ott, Patrick Reichelt, and Daisuke Sato.
Also on the Mongolia team are players Amani Aguinaldo, Oliver Bias, Jesse Curran, Kenshiro Daniels, Dylan De Bruycker, Mar Diano, Mark Hartmann, Oskari Kekkonen, Miguel Mendoza, Jesus Melliza, Anthony Pinthus, Jose Porteria, Sandro Reyes, Simone Rota, Jefferson Tabinas, and Dennis Villanueva.
SEND WELL WISHES in the comments below to The Azkals as the team views for a spot in the 2023 AFC Asian Cup!
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