Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Philippine Azkals coach Thomas Dooley believes he has formed a squad that will take the country to greater heights against some of Asia’s finest teams in the World Cup Qualifiers.
Now on his second year at the helm, the German-American mentor says that he finally found the best mix of players to banner the country’s bid in the qualifying tournament for football’s most prestigious tournament.
Working closely with Azkals manager Dan Palami, Dooley infused fresh talent to the team, calling up Luke Woodland, Stephan Palla, Kevin Ingreso and Iain Ramsay for the games against Bahrain and Yemen last June.
The arrival of the four new faces coincided with the return of veterans Stephan Schrock, Neil Etheridge, and Javier Patino as well as the resurgence of Misagh Bahadoran who notched two goals in the first two matches.
Midfielder Manny Ott has also improved under Dooley, while Phil Younghusband remained effective even after his switch from striker to midfielder.
Read: Palami: Azkals chances of World Cup Qualification are ‘promising’
The Azkals’ results have been positive claiming a 2-1 home win over Bahrain, followed by a 2-0 conquest of Yemen in Qatar in the first two match days in Group H.
“We have a unique team with unique players for each position and they all have unbelievable skill,” said Dooley, who captained the United States in the 1998 World Cup in France.
“What I’m asking from the players is to go 90 minutes with 100 percent of their skill level, but always on the collective.” Dooley added.
“We’re trying to build a team and in the last two games we saw that we created the team that we need to be successful.”
The Philippines faces Uzbekistan on September 8 at Philippine Sports Stadium, before flying out for a couple of away matches in Pyongyang against North Korea on October 8 and in Manama for a duel against Bahrain five days later.
The top team in the group will secure a place in the third round together with the four best second placers from among the eight brackets.
The 12 teams in the third round will also gain automatic slots to the AFC Asian Cup in 2019. Asia has been allotted four spots in the 2018 World Cup finals in Russia which means the top two from each of the brackets in the third round will qualify.
