(CNN Philippines) — The Philippines’ group for the qualification rounds of the 2018 FIFA World Cup and the 2019 AFC Asian Cup will only be determined on Tuesday (April 14) at Kuala Lumpur.
But the idea of once again seeing the Azkals compete in one of the world’s prestigious sporting events has made national team manager Dan Palami giddy.
“The excitement is there because you’ll be joining the most prestigious tournament, even though it’s just the qualifiers,” said Palami.
The draw seedings were based on the official FIFA rankings of each nation, and the Philippines was granted a bye for the first round of the qualifications – automatically advancing them to the second round.
The new format of the tournament will see eight groups of five teams playing in a round robin, ensuring that each team plays eight games from June 11, 2015 up to March 29, 2016 in their quest to book a ticket to Russia.
The top 12 teams of the second round will advance to the next round of World Cup qualification and earn a berth in the Asian Cup finals, while the next 24 ranked teams move on to a qualifying round for the Asian Cup.
Related: 2018 FIFA World Cup, 2019 AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers draw seedings announced
“We really want to do better than the last time. We’re also excited to see who we will be facing against. You just hope that somehow the draw will be in our favor, and will allow us to get to the next round,” said Palami.
The last time the Philippines participated in the World Cup qualifiers was in 2011, where the Azkals defeated Sri Lanka in the first round of the competition before eventually falling to Kuwait.
In order to bolster their bid for a ticket to the World Cup, Palami brought in some new recruits to line up alongside the likes of the Phil and James Younghusband and Stephan Schrock.
“I’m excited to see the players who will be composing the final line up and see how they will play with the new system that coach Dooley is trying to implement,” added Palami.
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These new players will be working under the watchful eye of Philippine team coach and ex-United States international Thomas Dooley, who has been experimenting with a new system in order to bring out the best in his players.
“I’m sure you’ll see new faces. Some of them are processing their passports already. By the time we announce the list, there will be players who haven’t played for us before and who will be playing for us in these qualifiers,” Palami concluded.
The Azkals will start their campaign for a spot at the 2018 FIFA World Cup at home on June 11.
