Even after another challenging year for the Philippine Men’s National Team, hopes are high for a strong response in 2024 when a handful of matches remain in the FIFA World Cup 2026 / AFC Asian Cup 2027 qualifiers and the Asean Mitsubishi Electric Cup slated later for the year.
Philippine Football Federation president John Gutierrez is optimistic that the Men’s National Team will be able to rise to the challenge in the coming year.
“The Philippine Men’s National Team remains as one of PFF’s showcase team,” said Gutierrez. “We hope that the team bounces back and the fans continue getting behind the team the way they did during the last two World Cup qualifying home matches.”
The Men’s National Team started the year with a loss against Indonesia in the AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup last January followed by back-to-back defeats against Kuwait and Jordan last March in friendly matches.
Needing to turn the team’s chances, the PFF and Men’s National Team Management hired former coach Michael Weiss in preparation for the qualifiers.
Under Weiss, the team won over Nepal, 1-0, at Rizal Memorial Stadium. A few days later, the PMNT suffered a 2-3 loss to Chinese Taipei.
A 2-1 win over Afghanistan in the September window gave Weiss a glimpse of the team’s potential.
Sebastian Rasmussen and Christian Rontini found the back of the net, but Rasmussen was one of the notable absentees in the first two matches of the World Cup qualifiers in November.
With the PFF launching the 10K Strong campaign to attract more fans at RMS, the PMNT played in front of the biggest home crowd in more than a decade.
Despite a strong performance, the team yielded to Vietnam, 0-2.
Needing maximum points in the next match, the PMNT came out with more urgency and veteran striker Patrick Reichelt scored in first half stoppage time for a 1-0 lead against Indonesia. The match ended at 1-1 after the visitors snatched a second half equalizer.
Despite the results not going in favor of the Men’s Team, the support of the fans brought on by the launch of the PFF’s fan campaign, #StandYourGround #10KStrong saw a combined total of 20,273 spectators at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
