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Preview of Azkals’ Qatar friendlies, plus Porteria airs side on snub

The Philippines' preparation for next month's AFC Challenge Cup campaign continues with a pair of friendlies in Doha, Qatar this weekend.

On Friday night the national team squares off against Nepal in a FIFA “A” international friendly, then on Monday night the Azkals play Al Ahli Sporting Club, a team in the Qatari Stars League, that country's top tier. Live coverage for the Nepal game begins at 1:00 am on Saturday.

The Philippines last played the Gorkhalis in 2011, with the Azkals prevailing 4-0 in Rizal Memorial. The Philippines also played Al Ahli in a friendly match in 2012, with the Philippines emerging 3-1 winners on the back of goals by Denis Wolf and Phil Younghusband.

There are several notable omissions to the Azkals squad. Patrick Deyto has a wedding to attend to in the UK and thus cannot make the trip. Since this weekend is not part of FIFA's calendar of international dates, Neil Etheridge and Roland Muller are not coming. Ed Sacapano will likely be first-choice between the sticks, with Kaya's Nick O'Donnell providing cover.

I suspect Sacapano gets the start on Friday with O'Donnell getting at least a half on Monday.

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Personally I support Deyto's choice to forego national team duty for family commitments. This tour is not a part of FIFA's international dates calendar, and was announced only recently. Besides, the matches are just friendlies and not competitive games. Football is important, but family even more so.

Jeff Christiaens, the left back from Global, is a late scratch, and taking his place is Daisuke Sato. The 19-year old Filipino-Japanese played in the youth system of J-League side Urawa Red Diamonds.

The word out of the Global camp is that Christiaens sustained a foot injury in the league-leaders' recent clash with Stallion, and is unable to train. I hope he can still make it for Maldives.

Sato usually plays left wing for Global but could be pressed into service at left back to replace Christiaens. Other options on the left side of the D are Drew Liauw and perhaps Anton Del Rosario.

But with both Chieffy Caligdong and Misagh Bahadoran hurt and not making the trip, Sato could even start at left wing.

Another Global star who has been selected by coach Thomas Dooley is Curt Dizon. The full-blooded Filipino who was raised in England played for the youth teams of storied English side Crystal Palace. He plays out on the wing in an attacking position and will likely get some minutes over the weekend. His quickness and technical ability should give our opponents fits.

Charley Pettys, another Global defender, is finally an Azkal. The Columbus, Ohio native has been doing well for Global coach Leigh Manson on the right flank of the defense and could see some action this week.

Kaya's OJ Porteria is not in the roster, another move that raised eyebrows. Dooley explained that he wishes Porteria would be more fit for Azkals training sessions, especially since he sees him playing for his club soon after.

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Porteria responded on Wednesday.

I had been training with Kaya very sporadically the past two weeks. I hurt myself in a game and then did not train for a while. I did not play the game before Loyola versus Socceroo because I was hurt and did not want to make it worse.”

Then I had a Sunday training with the Azkals. I started the session and did the warm up and some passing drills. I felt my hip flexor and I knew I couldn't keep going. I got treatment with the physiotherapist at the Azkals and he even said my both my hip flexors were very bad and that I really need to watch out.”

The only reason I played against Loyola was because it was a huge game for us and if we won we would be in second place, and if we lost, the title race would be gone. I sacrificed my body that game and was playing injured. I found out about the lineup for Qatar prior to the Loyola game, so I knew if I played I would be able to rest since I wasn't going to Qatar.”

Anyone who knows me personally would know how passionate I am about football and how much it means to me to play for my country. Whatever the reason is for me not being in the squad, I respect that and I'll be praying for the team to win!”

No doubt Dooley will be keeping an eye on Porteria leading up to Maldives. I cannot see him being excluded then if he is fit.

I'm delighted to see that Martin Steuble has been able to make the team. This is one of the other reasons why the Philippines likes to have games in the middle east: European-based players have a much easier trip over.

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Nepal are ranked 160th in the world and in their most recent game, also in Doha, they lost 2-0 to Yemen. Midfielder Jagjit Shrestha, who wowed the Rizal Memorial crowd three years ago with his neat dribbling passages, should make the starting eleven. The Gorkhalis have one player playing abroad, Rohit Chand, a 22-year-old central midfielder plying his trade for Persija Jakarta in the Indonesian Super League. Chand should be the focus of the Philippine defense. It's reported that he is his country's highest-paid footballer.

Captaining Nepal is veteran defender Sagar Thapa, who is 30 years old. Nepal is not playing in the AFC Challenge Cup final stage but are preparing for the championship of their sub-confederation, the South Asian Football Federation, next year.

When the Philippines last played Al-Ahli three years ago, the home side used plenty of substitutions and even had different players coming into the match with the same number on their jerseys. I heard that some trialists also played for them that day.

The match also seemed to be a tribute for a Qatari former player, a goalkeeper who looked to be very much in his fifties. That chap started in goal and instantly conceded an indirect freekick when he handled a back pass. It's likely that the law against holding a back pass was not yet in effect when he was playing. The Philippines promptly scored off the indirect.

I am hoping that the Qatari team take the game a wee bit more seriously this time. This game may be a chance for Dooley to play some of his bench players, but a hard,

Philippines coach Thomas Dooley has been a popular appointment, but the next step is to find the back of the net. I suspect that will happen on Friday.

Possible starting XI against Nepal:

PYounghusband

Sato Hartmann JYounghusband

CGreatwich Steuble

Liauw Gier Guirado Rota

Sacapaño

Follow Bob on Twitter @PassionateFanPH. See the full roster here.