Philippines and Palestine are the only two teams in Bangabandhu Gold Cup who qualified for the AFC Asian Cup 2019. Philippines are also preparing for the AFF Suzuki Cup scheduled to be held in November this year.
Their new head coach Scott Cooper, who stayed back with rest of the players in ongoing Qatar camp, sent his assistant Andres Gonzales to guide a 21-man squad in Bangladesh as part of the preparation for upcoming major events.
The new team is mixed with youth and experience. It has veteran forward Angel Guirado who scored a brace against Bangladesh in 2011 but didn’t feature in the first game. Veteran Azkals defender Anton del Rosario also returned to the national team for the first time since 2014.
Five of their players arrived in Bangladesh on Wednesday just before their opening game against Laos and yet registered a comfortable win from the virtue of two penalties.
“I am hoping it will be better against Bangladesh. We have one day to train and prepare for the match. Light session and may be tactical session will give some confidence to the players. We will definitely go for win.” said Gonzales Wednesday.
Captain Misagh Bahadoran is one of the most experienced faces along with Guirado. Both play in the top-flight Malaysian league. He said, “Bangladesh don’t want to lose the game at their home. They are very good team but we are not going to give it easily. We will give them hard fight, so they have to work hard too.”
