The Philippine Men’s National Football Team have started out strong to begin the year in the Asian Cup Qualifiers. But can they reach their goal to compete in the AFC Asian Cup in 2027?
A New Era Begins
Last 2024, the team removed their name “Azkals” which was iconic to them during the prime years of the squad when the siblings of Phil and James Younghusband were proudly representing the Philippine team as they have won historical games during the early 2010’s.
This is equivalent to referring to “Gilas Pilipinas” as the “Philippine Men’s National Basketball Team”. It’s odd but it had to be done for better marketing purposes.
PMNFT also hired a new Head Coach in the name of Albert Capellas and added a lot of young Filipino players in their lineup.
New Year, New Task
This 2025, the team will be competing in the Third Round of AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers. But the past couple of years has been a heartbreaker for the Philippines.
The Second Round of Qualifiers happened during 2023 to 2024 which was also a way for the Philippines to compete and qualify for the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup. PMNFT had to face Iraq, Indonesia and Vietnam in its home crowd at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
However, after 6 games which were done in home-and-away format, the country had a disappointing performance as they went 0-5 and had 1 draw. With this horrible display of game style, they had to let go of their World Cup dreams.
At least, a brand new year offers them the same opportunity to be better and that’s to be in the AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers. Since the Philippines were on lower Top 2 teams in their group, they are now qualified to compete in the Third Round along with 23 other teams.
The PMNFT is grouped in Group A along with Maldives, Tajikistan and Timor-Leste following the same home-and-away format.
Elusive Win Against Maldives
With their performance in the previous years, it must have felt great to now finally win a game in their opening match against world ranked No. 162 Maldives last March 25 2025 at New Clark City Athletics Stadium in Capas, Tarlac.
Randy Schneider’s debut representing his Filipino roots was everything he dreamed of as he finally ended the losing streak for the Philippines since he was present in all of the four scores his squad.
He set up the assist of Paul Tabinas when his brother Jeff Tabinas scored the first goal of the match. He then made an assist to Bjorn Kristensen’s goal to make the game 2-1. To make things even better, the Fil-Swiss scored the third goal for the team making his first ever international goal.
And then, the final goal was made by Sandro Reyes with an assist by another new player for the Philippines, Josef Baccay.
Final Score: 4 – 1
It may be too early to tell but Schneider might just be the new face of this squad.
Battle to the Top: Game Versus Tajikistan
In an interview from The GAME Magazine, the rising star Sandro Reyes said that “I think we have to clearly dominate. I think our group is, I wouldn’t say easy, but very favorable. I think it’s a good chance for us to continue to build, and the Asian Cup is still far away, so we have a long time to build for that.”
He’s not completely wrong. In Group A, the Philippines is ranked No. 150, Maldives is No. 162 and Timor-Leste is No. 197. The only match that the PMNFT will truly have is against the No. 104 Tajikistan. The record of Tajikistan in the Second Round was 2 Wins, 2 Losses and 2 Draws having their June 10 match as an anticipated match for the National Team.
Youth and Potential
Majority of the players are in their early twenties but these players have the talent and skill set of helping the country reclaim its long lost glory back in early 2010’s.
Randy Schneider who was all around in their first game against Maldives is only 23 years old. The Filipino born and raised Sandro Reyes is only 22 years old. Alex Monis and Javier Mariona are both 20-years-old. Zico Bailey is only 24 years old and the newcomer to the team, Josef Baccay is only 23 years old.
Some may say that they still lack experience in order to help the country win games but in the end of the day, a young squad surprising other well experienced teams isn’t a new storyline in the history of Philippine football.
