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‘Fans can help us win'

One of the Philippines footballing icons has made a plea to his fellow Pinoys in the UAE to come out in force to support the Azkals in their two matches in Dubai

  • XPRESS Report
  • Published: 00:00 February 9, 2012
  • XPRESS

Dubai: One of the Philippines footballing icons has made a plea to his fellow Pinoys in the UAE to come out in force to support the Azkals in their two matches in Dubai.

Speaking at the arrival press conference at the Asiana Hotel on Wednesday, James Younghusband insisted a big crowd against the Uzbekistan and Australian Under 23's can inspire the team. He said: "When we have good support it really makes a big difference. When you have the fans behind you it gives the players an extra boost and you can feel the adrenaline rush.

"If I could say one thing to our fans it would be ‘come and support us'. We would love to see as many fans there as possible and meet all of them too."

Referring to the large Filipino population in the Emirates the pin-up added: "I'm not sure I can have a picture with 500,000 people though!"

The team arrived at Dubai International Airport at 11pm on Tuesday evening where they were greeted by a small gathering of die-hard fans, eager to get a photograph. Captain Emelio Caligdong said he was pleased to be in the Emirate: "This is the fourth time I've been here but the first time to play football and I'm very thankful to have the opportunity to do that. We are here for a training camp ahead of the AFC Challenge Cup and it's a good chance for us to get together and do our best."

The Azkals have shown improvements in recent times under former coach Simon McMenemy and current Head Coach, Michael Weiss. Although progress has been made, Weiss admits there is still a lot of work to do: "In the UAE one club has five pitches; we have probably five pitches in the whole of Manila. We face challenges every day. We've come a long way but have a long way to go still."

Football is a relatively new phenomenon in the Philippines where money isn't available like in many other nations but the German coach says the players have a different motivation: "The biggest motivation any of these players need, is making history. This Challenge Cup is the biggest tournament in the Philippines history. If we win this we go to the Asian Cup for the first ever time."

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