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The Philippine men’s football team and head coach Albert Capellas gear up for the ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup 2024 this December
MANILA, Philippines – A confident Philippine men’s football team looks all set as the ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup 2024 trophy landed in the Philippines on Saturday, November 9, to close out its six-date tour across Southeast Asia.
“I know if we reach our level, if we perform, our commitment in every game is there, I have very good confidence that we’ll achieve nice things,” said Philippine men’s football team coach Albert Capellas during the trophy tour, which had prior stops in Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Indonesia.
The 15th edition of the 10-team tournament kicks off this December with the Philippines bunched in Group B with Vietnam, Indonesia, Myanmar, and Laos for a single round-robin battle.
“Of course, we scout the opponents, we have big respect to opponents, and we know the way that they play, we know their best players and their tactics because it’s also our job,” said Capellas. “But for me, the most important is not how Indonesia plays or how Vietnam plays… what’s most important is how we can play, how we can perform.”
Group A features seven-time champion Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, and Timor-Leste.
Only the top two teams of each group will advance to the two-legged home-and-away semifinal stage, which will be completed by New Year’s Day.
The Philippines reached the semifinals four times — with 2018 being the last — in the competition’s history, but stumbled in the group stage in the past two editions.
In last year’s edition of the regional tournament, the Philippines finished fourth in Group A after picking up only one win.
Even though the Philippines struggled to get out of the group stage recently, former De La Salle University goalkeeper and national team veteran Patrick Deyto has utmost belief that they will find a breakthrough this year.
“I feel like definitely we’ll get out of the group. From there, obviously depends who’s the opponent in the semifinal, who will be available, but definitely we’ll get out of the group stage.”
However, Capellas, as always, wants to take it one game at a time. “I only can promise that we will do our best to win the next game, and to win the next game, and to win the next game,” he said.
“If that happens, let’s see what [we] can achieve on the 5th of January (finals) and maybe we deserve to be here (engraved in the trophy).”
The 145th-ranked Philippines will begin its campaign versus world No. 165 Myanmar on December 12 at home. – Rappler.com
