Joselito Malig

Article (news)

Paige Javier

ABS-CBN News

MANILA – With a month until the next window of the 2027 AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers, the Philippine Men&#x27;s National Football Team has no plans to hold friendly matches.PMNFT manager Mico Gutierrez said the decision is due to limited time for preparations.&quot;Our next game is on November 18, so we have less than a month to prepare for it. So definitely, we are not looking to do any friendly. So we are only able to compete as a national team during windows, and windows are only nine days,&quot; he said at a press conference in Makati City on Thursday.&quot;So with the short time that we have to prepare for the Maldives, it will be difficult for us to host or to do a friendly in any country at this moment,&quot; Gutierrez added.He said they may consider setting up friendly matches for the next window against Tajikistan in March 2026.<div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/othersports/2025/10/14/football-second-half-comeback-propels-philippines-past-timor-leste-2204">Football: Second half comeback propels Philippines past Timor-Leste </a> </div>&quot;The next window, the next competition after November 18 will be in March. So we have December, January, February. That could be considered as an option,&quot; Gutierrez said.Gutierrez said they want to have a longer training camp for the upcoming window.&quot;We’re looking at doing an additional camp on our first three or four days in Dubai. And then eventually in our last three or four days before the match, we will fly to Maldives to compete,&quot; he said.&quot;Because of the situation that we had in this window, where it’s actually the first time AFC qualifiers to play two games in one window. And then we had to fly all the day to Darwin [Australia] for that. This time we want to have a good preparation for the November camp,&quot; Gutierrez added.He did not close the possibility of holding friendlies with Middle Eastern squads in the future window, depending on the coaches, availability of other teams and the cost.&quot;When you are hosted, typically what we are going to try to look for is a country who will invite us and all we have to do is pay for the flights and then they will spend for everything, hotel, lodging and all that. So that would be a sweet deal for us to experience,&quot; Gutierrez said.&quot;If we do the hosting, then we will have to be doing that for another country. So the potential of us hosting a friendly here would really be based more on if a sponsor comes in and help us do that,&quot; he added.As for PMNFT head coach Carles Cuadrat, he underscored the pros and cons of setting up friendlies ahead of qualifier matches.<div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/othersports/2025/10/14/enderes-brace-powers-young-filipinas-past-syria-in-u17-asian-cup-qualifiers-1201">Football: Enderes brace powers young Filipinas past Syria in U17 Asian Cup qualifiers</a></div>&quot;One of the cons to make a friendly match is that maybe you get an injury before official match. So you have to be careful with that. In our case, with Philippines national team, there is two things that are very important. One is that the players come to us fit, so we don&#x27;t need to give them 90 minutes because they are playing regularly with the clubs. So we don&#x27;t need an extra match because they are fit,&quot; Cuadrat explained.&quot;Second is that they know the system, they know the tactics. We are not changing the tactics every game, so they already have the automatism. We are not doing a lot of changes one game after one game. We don&#x27;t make the changes because of the opponent. We just keep our forces in the system,&quot; he added.Cuadrat would like to err on the side of caution ahead of the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers.&quot;So if you see these two things, that physically we are good and that the tactics already are known by the players, maybe it&#x27;s good for us to avoid risk and not to play friendly before a very important official game,&quot; he said.But Cuadrat said if there is an offer from a sponsor to help the country host a friendly in the future, they would grab the opportunity to play in front of Filipinos again.The PMNFT clinched back-to-back wins against Timor-Leste on the road and at home.The Philippines remains on top of Group A with 10 points and 8 goal difference.The team will return to action on November 18, when they are hosted by Maldives for the next window of the qualifiers.The PMNFT will get a long rest before the next window, where they will face Tajikistan in March 2026.

With a month until the next window of the 2027 AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers, the Philippine Men's National Football Team has no plans to hold friendly matches.

With a month until the next window of the 2027 AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers, the Philippine Men's National Football Team has no plans to hold friendly matches.

No friendly for PH nat'l football team ahead of November qualifiers

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No friendly for PH nat'l football team ahead of November qualifiers

Paige Javier,

ABS-CBN News

Published October 16, 2025 09:51 PM PHT

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Updated October 16, 2025 11:40 PM PHT

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Football

Philippine Men's National Football Team

AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers

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