| RP XI all set for May 13-20 Asian Challenge Cup stint |
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| Friday, 09 May 2008 | |||
 view gallery BACOLOD (SunStar) - The national men's football team is just about ready to plunge into action in the 2008 AFC (Asian Football Confederation) Asian Challenge Cup Group 2 Qualifiers slated May 13 to 20 in Iloilo City. "The team is okay and we hope to be in a 100 percent mode when the tournament kicks off this Tuesday," RP team coach Norman Fegidero Jr. of Bacolod City told Sun.Star Bacolod in a telephone interview Thursday. The Philippines will be battling the national teams of Brunei, Bhutan and Tajikistan for a slot in the main draw of this AFC-calendared event, which was originally scheduled in Bacolod City. But Fegidero, hero of the 1991 Manila Southeast Asian Games, still could not name his final lineup for the said competition. Twenty-seven hopefuls are still undergoing training camp under Fegidero's watchful eyes at the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) National Football Training center in Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo, and vying for slots in the final lineup. The list includes seven Fil-foreigners - Anton del Rosario, Phil and James Younghusband, Chad Gould, Phil and Chris Greatwich and late addition keeper Neil Etheridge from English Premier League club Fulham. Meanwhile, eight Negrense standouts still remain among the 27 booters, hoping to also get slots in the final lineup. They are keepers Edmundo Mercado Jr. and Edward Sacapaño, Arnie Pasinabo, Floriano Pacilan Jr., Robert Cañedo, Joel Ballo-allo, Joven Bedic and Lemuel Unabia. Negrense fans failed to get a glimpse of the national booters when planned tune-up matches against local clubs were cancelled due to lack of local handlers.
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