MANILA (30 March 2012) – Even if there’s any uncertainty over the makeup of the Philippines national team in the next several months, one thing which is certain is that chief coach Michael Weiss is set to guide the squad to the next edition of the highly popular AFF Suzuki Cup at the end of the year.
Team manager Dan Palami, who received the nod from the Philippines Football Federation (PFF) recently to continue his work at the national level, has also given the thumbs up for Weiss to do the same.
“If we go by results, then I think he has given us the results that we wanted,” said Palami. “He got us to the qualifiers and the main draw (of the AFC Challenge Cup) and we finished third.
“It’s significant already that we got into the quarter-finals but it is even more historic with the third place achievement.”
The Philippines bounced back from their 2-0 defeat against eventual champions DPR Korea in the opener in Group B, to beat India (2-0) and Tajikistan (2-1) to book their place in the semi-finals.
A 2-1 loss to Turkmenistan in the final four saw the Philippines making it up with a 2-1 victory in the fight for third and fourth placing.
For the first time too, the Philippines under Weiss made it to the second round of the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers before losing to Kuwait. The only blot in Weiss’ stint thus far is their performance at the SEA Games in Jakarta last year.
The team won just one game – a close 3-2 victory over Laos. The Philippines recorded a 3-1 loss to Vietnam, 2-1 defeat to Timor Leste before being chopped 5-0 by Myanmar. They then lost their final Group B game 2-1 to Brunei to be placed at the bottom of the heap.
