Azkals go to Manama mid-July for test matches with Bahrain's Olympic team

To get acclimatized to Middle Eastern weather and exposed to how the Arabs play football, the Philippine Men's football team will move their training camp to Bahrain. The Azkals, as the team is popularly known, will be in Bahrain in mid-July and have two friendly matches there before they head out to nearby Kuwait for the first leg of Round 2 of the World Cup Qualifiers.

Philippine Football Federation (PFF) General Secretary Ramon Manuel told GMA News Online that the friendlies will be against the Olympic team of Bahrain.

Kuwait, currently ranked 102nd in the FIFA Rankings is a 10-time champion of the Gulf Cup of Nations. The team comparisons feature of the rankings at the FIFA website shows Kuwait slipped in the standings from 85th in August last year.

In contrast, the Philippine team has risen from 165th to 159th, with a high of 150th last December after its strong showing in the AFF Suzuki Cup.

When they go to Bahrain, coach Michael Weiss said the team will be without some foreign-based players.

Stephan Schrock, Angel Guirado, Manuel Ott, Paul Mulders, and Neil Etheridge were able to train with the team in Germany and play the home and away matches in Round 1 of the World Cup qualifying playoffs. But they had to get permission from their respective European clubs so they could be free for the Azkals' matches.

Absent in the last match against Sri Lanka were midfielders Ray Jonsson and Jerry Lucena, and defender Dennis Cagara.

Weiss said the Bahrain training stint will largely be for the benefit of the reserve players. Three substitutes were fielded in Round 1. In the away match against Sri Lanka, Nate Burkey went in for Phil Younghusband and scored the equalizer. In the home game, Ian Araneta and Roel Gener were sent in.

"Cohesion will only come if the same set of players trains and plays together for a long time," PFF technical study team member Andres Gonzales told GMA News Online. Gonzales is a champion coach in season 73 of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP). The study team was in the VVIP section of the covered grandstand of the Rizal stadium.

Also in the VVIP section were top officials of the PFF and the Asian Football Confederation.

The Rizal Stadium will be the venue of the home game of Round 2 versus Kuwait set for July 28.

Earl Victor Rosero, GMA News