Football: PFF looks to add veteran strikers to SEA Games team

Camille B. Naredo, ABS-CBN News 

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Bienvenido Maranon of United City in action during the 2020 Philippines Football League soccer match between United City and Kaya FC in Carmona, Cavite, Philippines, 09 November 2020. File photo. Mark Cristino, EPA-EFE" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/life/03/14/football_bienvenido-maranon.jpg"/><figcaption>Bienvenido Maranon of United City in action during the 2020 Philippines Football League soccer match between United City and Kaya FC in Carmona, Cavite, Philippines, 09 November 2020. File photo. Mark Cristino, EPA-EFE</figcaption></figure></div>MANILA, Philippines -- The Philippine Football Federation (PFF) plans to augment the striker position for the Under-23 team that will compete in the 31st Southeast Asian Games in Hanoi, Vietnam this May.Men&#x27;s football in the SEA Games will feature Under-23 squads, but teams are allowed to call up two overaged players. In the 2019 SEA Games, the PFF called up midfielder Stephan Schröck and defender Amani Aguinaldo as the team&#x27;s overaged players. The team bowed out in the group stage with a 2-1-1 win-draw-loss record.&quot;We are looking at the striker position as the hole to fill with this squad, and hopefully, we will be talking to the senior players in our camp in Singapore, as to who could be available,&quot; Philippine Azkals team manager Dan Palami said in a press conference.Among the options for the PFF are naturalized striker Bienvenido Marañón and Azkals veteran Mark Hartmann.&quot;Bienve… wants to play for the Philippines. This will be his chance to have a go at it in a major tournament again,&quot; said Palami of Marañón, who made his Azkals debut in the AFF Suzuki Cup in December 2021.&quot;We&#x27;re looking at several players, maybe even Mark Hartmann as a striker as well. These are the options,&quot; he added.Hartmann has played for the senior team since 2011.Palami believes that the U-23 Azkals are solid in the midfield and at the back, with players such as Justin Baas, Oliver Bias and Oskari Kekkonen in the fold. &quot;The striker position, that&#x27;s where we feel we need to augment our manpower, so that&#x27;s where we will focus on,&quot; he explained.The team will kick off their preparations for the SEA Games through to Copa Paulino Alcantara that starts on Monday, with the Azkals Development Team among the squads confirmed to compete.&quot;The problem that we observed during the past two Under-23 campaigns was that, there was really a lack of match fitness,&quot; said Palami. &quot;This time, we want to make sure that the preparations start as early as possible, which means we start with the Copa.&quot;As for their goal in the Hanoi SEA Games, Palami said they hope to make it past the group stages for the first time ever.&quot;Our expectation is for us to at least go to the semifinals, I think for the first time, to get out of the group stages. We take it from there, and then anything can happen, afterwards,&quot; he said.

The PFF plans to augment the striker position for the Under-23 team that will compete in the 31st Southeast Asian Games in Hanoi, Vietnam this May.

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Football: PFF looks to add veteran strikers to SEA Games team

Football: PFF looks to add veteran strikers to SEA Games team

Camille B. Naredo,

ABS-CBN News

Published Mar 14, 2022 01:45 PM PHT

Read More:

football

Philippine Football Federation

PFF

Southeast Asian Games

SEA Games

Under-23 Azkals

SEA Games football

Philippine Azkals

Bienvenido Marañón

Mark Hartmann

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