The Philippines (who will host Vietnam at the Rizal Memorial Stadium on November 16) still rely on a squad of naturalized players. After the retirement of outstanding midfielder Stephan Schrock, coach Michael Weiss has built the Azkals (the Philippines team's nickname) around defenders Christian Rontini (born in Italy), Daisuke Sato (Japan), the German midfield trio Manny Ott, Mike Ott and Kevin Ingreso, strikers Bienvenido Maranon (Spain) and Sebastian Rasmussen (Denmark) and veteran goalkeeper Neil Etheridge, who plays for Birmingham City (England). These are the key players that the German strategist put his trust in in the friendly matches in September and October against Taiwan (1-1), Afghanistan (won 2-1), Kyrgyzstan (won 1-0) and Bahrain (lost 0-1).
The Philippines team (left) is eager to cause a surprise in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
The Philippine press has highly appreciated the performance of the Azkals under new coach Michael Weiss (assisted by assistant Stephan Schrock) as he has gradually overcome the weakness of the lack of cohesion between the naturalized and native players. In addition, this coach has also introduced tactical exercises to help the team reduce its dependence on long balls and high balls as before. The biggest concern for the Philippine team is the ability to play of Christian Rontini and Sebastian Rasmussen, the players who scored in the victory over Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, the Iraqi team (who will meet Indonesia on November 16 and face Vietnam at My Dinh Stadium 5 days later) has postponed announcing the squad until this weekend due to having to wait for some stars to play in Europe. Coach Jesus Casas is still waiting for information on whether Utrecht (Netherlands) player Zidane Iqbal is ready to participate in the upcoming 2 World Cup 2026 qualifiers. The Spanish coach is extremely worried that this midfielder is likely to be unable to participate due to injury. Although he has only played for the national team 4 times, the 20-year-old talent born in Manchester (England) has received great confidence from Coach Casas in strengthening Iraq's attack in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
Evaluating the strength of Vietnam's opponents in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers
In addition, the strategist is also considering recalling striker Pashang Abdulla, who was born in Iraq but grew up in Sweden. The 29-year-old player currently plays for Allsvenskan club Degerfors IF (Sweden) has just completed his naturalization and was named in the friendly match Iraq lost 0-1 to Colombia in June. The delay in announcing the list is partly due to Mr. Casas choosing between Ahmed Ali and Osama Rashid for the attacking midfielder position. However, according to the Iraqi press, the Spanish coach is likely to name Osama Rashid, who has more experience and is playing in Europe with Vizela club (Portugal).
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