The Philippine national men’s football team will be banking on its youth and explosiveness in the 30th edition of the ASEAN Championship this year.

Head coach Carles Cuadrat said the tournament will be a good avenue for the Nationals to gain experience against tough opposition.

The Philippines was battling Myanmar as of press time at the New Clark City Stadium in Capas, Tarlac.

“We are going to play with an even younger team than we played in the Tri-Nation Friendlies because at the moment we have some players like Randy or Manny helping us with their experience. Now we only have two players who are over 30 years old. The rest of the players are really young,” Cuadrat said.

“But it’s a good test. They are training very well. They understand the idea that we want to implement on the pitch.”

The Philippines has the third-youngest team in the ASEAN Championship with an average age of 24.65 years.

Patrick Deyto is the oldest member of the squad at 36 years old.

The Philippines is aiming for one of the top two spots in Group B to advance to the semifinals

Sandro Reyes said he hopes they have what it takes not only to compete but also to win games.

“Yeah, I’m looking forward to just feeling the emotions again that we felt two years ago. I think for me it was one of the best feelings I’ve had on a football field, both those games in Indonesia and in Rizal, and also the second leg (against Thailand) even though we ended up losing that,” Reyes said.

“Those emotions and feelings with the team and for the country are really, really strong emotions that you rarely feel as a football player. It only comes once every few years. I hope we can go deep again in the tournament so we can feel these emotions again and have success for the country.”