Phl booters to parade new players

Four new players are expected to beef up the Philippine national men’s football team when it competes in the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers starting 25 March.

Philippine Football Federation national team director Freddy Gonzalez said Randy Schneider of FC Winterthur, Cole Mrowka of Columbus Crew, Josef Baccay of Odds BK, and Andre Leipold of Pardubice will be registered before the 25 February deadline set by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

Gonzalez also said national team head coach Albert Capellas played a crucial role in the recruitment of these Filipino-foreign players.

“So the four that we know will be able to get their passports and will meet the deadline of the AFC registration, which is kind of a ridiculous deadline in my opinion because the deadline is short,” Gonzalez said.

“Basically, all the players that he’s (Capellas) spoken to or that he’s visited are committed to the team and want to be part of the team.”

Gonzalez mentioned that highly-touted recruits Nick and Anthony Markanich were also willing to play for the country but won’t be able to make it in time for the Asian Cup qualifiers.

“A lot of them are just a little bit frustrated about the way the paperwork is going,” Gonzalez said.

“So it’s kind of frustrating the players a little bit but we’re trying to make it as pain-free as possible. Hopefully, when the Senate gets done reviewing all the players, we’ll be able to have a clear path to where and how all of these players are going to get their Philippine passports.”