Tough grind awaits Phl booters

The Philippine men’s national football team braces for some tough competition in preparation for the ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup on 23 November.

Philippine Football Federation national team director Freddy Gonzalez said the men’s national team will be competing in the Merdeka Cup in Malaysia in September and the King’s Cup in Thailand in October.

The Philippines recently suffered a 0-2 loss in the second round of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers and now sets its sights on the upcoming Mitsubishi Electric Cup.

“The Merdeka Cup is an annual cup that Malaysia has. It’s the same kind of tournament for the King’s Cup in Thailand,” Gonzalez, a former national team player, said.

“After that, we go to Hong Kong in November to play a friendly and go back to Manila to play our last friendly before the Mitsubishi Electric Cup and it could be either Brunei or Chinese Taipei.”

“We are still awaiting confirmation from the teams.”

In the Merdeka Cup, the Philippines will be up against host Malaysia, Tajikistan and Lebanon while it will be facing off against the Tajiks, Syria, and Thailand in the King’s Cup.

The national team looks to bounce back from a lackluster World Cup qualifiers campaign where the Philippines did not win in six games.

Awaiting the Nationals in the Mitsubishi Electric Cup are powerhouse squads Vietnam, Indonesia and Cambodia as well as Singapore and the winner of the qualification round between Brunei and East Timor.

So far, the Philippines finished the 2022 edition of the tournament in fourth place in Group A with a 1-0-3 win-draw-loss record.