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The Philippine Football Federation (PFF) has recently appointed former Australian World Cup player and Hall of Famer James “Jim” Fraser as the head coach of the U20/U21 Men’s National Team, which is set to compete in the Hassanal Bolkiah Trophy that may be held in Brunei Darussalam in August 2014.
Also appointed were Coach Marlon Maro as Technical Adviser, former Azkals player Leigh Gunn as Assistant Coach, Marlon Pinero as Assistant Coach and Noel Marcaida as Goalkeeper Coach.
“We welcome Coach Jim Fraser in the Philippines and we look forward to his contributions to our junior national team. Given the need for our younger teams to be more competitive, we tap the services of experts from developed footballing countries to help us inspect and scout players properly,” said PFF President Mariano Araneta.
The new coaching staff has been conducting inspection and tryouts of players for the national pool. Thus far, sessions for players from Luzon are being held at the University of Makati football field, Emperodor Stadium and Turf BGC for the Month of February. Inspection and tryouts for Visayas and Mindanao players have yet to be scheduled.
The PFF has also instructed all AFC Financial Aid Program (AFAP) Coaches nationwide to make recommendations for promising players that can be inspected.
“We need to find the best players from all over the country and we call on our AFAP coaches to help scout for talents. With Coach Jim’s expertise, we are optimistic that we will be able to field a competitive line-up,” said PFF General Secretary Edwin Gastanes.
Coach Jim Fraser has a UEFA A License in Coaching and is the Director of Coaching at the Sabre United Sports Group and International Goalkeepers of Sydney, Australia. He played for the Australian National Men’s Team in the 1970 and 1974 World Cup. He was recently inducted into Football Australia Sporting Hall of Fame in December 2013.
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