The Men’s National “A” Teams of the Philippines and Maldives are all set to play their international friendly (tier 1) match tomorrow, 3 September 2015 at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium. Kick off is at 8pm.
Team officials from both countries attended the Match Coordination Meeting (10:00 am) and pre-match Press Conference (11:30 am) today at the Century Park Hotel in Manila.
Authorised by both FIFA and AFC, the friendly match is part of both teams’ preparations for their respective 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualifier matches on 8 September. The Philippines is scheduled to play against Uzbekistan at the Philippine Sports Stadium, while Maldives will face China PR in China.
According to Maldives Coach Ismail Mahfooz, playing against a strong team such as the Philippines will help them prepare for their match against China. The Philippines previously played Maldives in the semi-finals of Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Challenge Cup in 2014 and won 3-2.
For Philippine Head Coach Thomas Dooley, the friendly match against Maldives is an important game in their preparation for Uzbekistan. Although Maldives’ roster is composed mostly of new players with only 4 from the team that they played against, he said that they will take this game seriously and he expects his team to follow their game plan.
