ALLAN THE MAN

The Philippine national men’s football team, Azkals, has named players for its friendly match in Cambodia on Wednesday.

Tapped to suit up for the Azkals are Marvin Angeles, Misagh Bahadoran, Jeffrey Christiaens, Rob Gier, Patrick Reichelt Carli de Murga, Denis Wolf, and David Basa of Global FC; Roel Gener, Eduard Sacapano and Nestorio Margarse Jr. of Philippine Army Fritz & Macziol; Ref Cuaresma, Anto Gonzales and Phil and James Younghusband of the Loyola Meralco Sparks; Jason Sabio and OJ Porteria of Kaya; Jason De Jong of Penson Stallion Giligan’s; and Ian Araneta of Philippine Air Force Phoenix.

Also in the lineup are co-skipper Chieffy Caligdong, Fulham goalkeeper Neil Etheridge, Filipino-Danish Jerry Lucena, and Filipino-Dutch Paul Mulders.

Filipino-German midfielder Stephan Schrock may also suit up for the Azkals in their upcoming matches after being suspended one game in Bundesliga first division after being handed a red card in his debut for TSG 1899 Hoffenheim last Saturday.

The status of James Younghusband, however, remains uncertain after he received a one-game suspension as part of sanctions given by the Philippine Football Federation Disciplinary Committee regarding the sexual harassment case filed by match commissioner Cristy Ramos last March.

Other personalities who received bans are Azkals team manager Dan Palami and coach Hans Michael Weiss, who were both suspended two games apiece, and assistant coach Edzel Bracamonte, who was banned for one game.

Assistant coach Edwin Cabalida will temporarily take over coaching chores for Weiss, who will still travel with the team despite his suspension.

Members of the Azkals left the country on Monday to start off their series of matches against their Southeast Asian neighbors this month. After playing against Cambodia, they will face Singapore on September 7 and Laos on September 10.

Aside from looking to gain points to improve their world ranking, which currently sits at 150th, the Azkals are using the friendly matches to prepare for the 2012 ASEAN Football Federation Suzuki Cup in November, where they look to surpass their historic semifinal run two years ago.