PINOY PRIDE: PFF declines tapping naturalized players

PINOY PRIDE: PFF declines tapping naturalized players | Daily Tribune

Philippine national football team director Freddy Gonzalez is sticking with local players or those with Filipino lineage to represent the country internationally as the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) expressed its indifference towards the naturalization of foreign talent.

“I’ll never naturalize somebody who doesn’t have any Filipino heritage. That’s not something that I would like to do,” Gonzalez said.

“I believe we have enough talented Filipino players here and abroad so we don’t need to go that route and try to naturalize foreigners who have nothing to do with the country and have no Filipino blood, who have no relationship to the Philippines.”

The only time the Philippines fielded a naturalized player in the men’s game was with Spanish striker Bienvenido Marañón in 2021 who scored four goals in 15 appearances.

“I’m not critiquing what they did with Marañón. Marañón is a great player. I wish we had somebody like him,” Gonzalez said.

“But it’s not something that I have any interest in doing, getting a Spanish player or somebody and making them Filipino. We want to do it with Filipino players, Filipino-blooded players.”

Gonzalez made the remark amid the buildup for the national team’s next campaign, the third round of the Asian Football Confederation Asian Cup qualifiers in March.

Gonzalez said the core of the team from the Mitsubishi Electric Cup campaign will be retained for the Asian Cup but is awaiting reinforcements.

During the Mitsubishi Cup, regional powerhouse squads Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam paraded naturalized players.

The Nationals broke a six-year semifinal absence in the tournament and pushed Thailand to the limit before losing 3-4 on aggregate over two legs.

With the Asian Cup qualifiers falling under the International Football Federation (FIFA) calendar, Gonzalez also said VfL Bochum forward Gerritt Holtmann is expected to suit up again for the Philippines.

“A lot of them will still be there. Like I was saying, the ASEAN-based players who weren’t released like Kevin Mendoza, Jeff Tabinas, Manny Ott, Jesse Curran, etc. will be back,” Gonzalez said.

“Gerritt Holtman will be back. But then we will have additional players like Randy Schneider, Cole Mrowka, Josef Baccay and the Markanich brothers Nick and Anthony.”

In Group A of the qualifiers, which starts on 26 March, the Philippines will face Maldives, Tajikistan and East Timor.

Only the top team in each group will earn a spot in the 2027 Asian Cup, which will be held in Saudi Arabia.

Should the Philippines qualify, this will be its second time competing in the Asian Cup after 2019 when the likes of Phil Younghusband, Stephan Shrock, and Neil Etheridge were in the squad with the late Sven-Goran Eriksson as head coach.

Gonzalez is also plotting a friendly tournament, the GoTyme Cup, in September to help keep the Nationals sharp for its campaign in the Asian Cup.

“I can’t confirm two of the teams yet because we’re still getting them. But I can confirm that it’s basically Philippines. South Africa will be one of them as well,” Gonzalez said.