Wednesday, May 07, 2008 27 booters, 7 Fil-foreigners still with RP XI training camp
FROM the original number of hopefuls who started out in aspiring for slots in the national men's football team for the 2008 Asian Challenge Cup Group 2 Qualifiers, there are still 27 currently remaining, including seven Fil-foreigners, said RP team head coach Norman Fegidero Jr. of Bacolod City.
The Fil-foreigners currently undergoing training camp with the rest of the 27 at the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) National Football Training Center in Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo are Phil and James Younghusband, Phil and Chris Greatwich, Chad Gould, Anton del Rosario and Neil Etheridge, a goalkeeper from English Premiere League club Fulham.
But Fegidero said he is not yet ready to say when he will announce the final composition of the team that will see action for the country in the Asian Challenge Cup event slated May 11 to 20 in Barotac Nuevo and at the Iloilo Sports Complex pitch in Lapaz.
The former national team mainstay added he also could not categorically say whether there is still time for a tune-up in Bacolod City at the Panaad pitch between the nationals and some local clubs considering the time left before the competition.
There are also several Negrense players among the 27 who are hopeful of getting slots in the team. They are Manila-based keepers Edmundo Mercado Jr. and Edward Sacapano, University of St. La Salle's Arnie Pasinabo and Floriano Pacilan as well as West Negros University mainstays Joel Ballo-allo, Robert Canedo, Joven Bedic and Lemuel Unabia.
The Younghusbands, the Greatwich brothers, del Rosario and Gould were members of previous RP squads who represented the country in both the 2005 23rd Southeast Asian Games and the 2006 Asean Football Championship qualifiers, both held at the Panaad pitch here in Bacolod City. (Henry Villalva)
