The Philippine Senior Men's National Football Team will be hosting their Indonesian counterparts on the 5th of June at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium.
The last time these two countries met, it was at the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup semifinals at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, where the Merah Putih advanced to the finals, thanks to two 1-0 victories at the cavernous venue.
It was not supposed to be that way, as the Philippines could and should have hosted one of those legs, but football officials back then deemed that there was no suitable venue to host the match, thus the quirk of having to be the "host" in Indonesian turf.
But that was two years ago. Things have changed since those encounters.
The success of the Azkals in that competition brought about the revival of the sport in the consciousness of the Filipino into where it is right now. A coaching change was made, as the young architect of the Suzuki Cup run in Simon McMenemy was replaced by current coach Hans Michael Weiss. Weiss was brought in to begin preparations for the next competition, the qualification 2012 AFC Challenge Cup, which eventually ended up with the Philippines in third place in Nepal and a whisker away at the opportunity of securing an automatic Asian Cup berth in 2015.
With the awareness of our exploits, new players with Filipino roots were discovered and tapped to wear our nation's colors with pride and passion. The state of Filipino football has had its up and downs since our exploits in the Suzuki Cup, but the past few results have been encouraging and the expectations are slowly but surely changing with each moment that passes, especially with the latest result, a goalless draw with the reigning regional champions Malaysia. Although generally pleased with the draw at the Stadium Shah Alam in Selangor, the Azkals were a little disappointed with the missed opportunities with the chances it got, knowing that it could have possibly gotten away with the victory.
MSV Duisburg's Roland Muller was sensational in tending the nets against the Malays, and was generally considered to be the Man of the Match in the friendly, but he is expected to step aside as Fulham's Neil Etheridge returns to action after serving his one-match suspension handed to him by the AFC. Also expected to return to the lineup are Denmark-based Dennis Cagara and Jerry Lucena, fresh from their club campaigns with 2. Bundesliga side FSV Frankfurt and Denmark Superliga's AGF, respectively. Filipino fans can also look forward to the return of James and Phil Younghusband of the Loyola Meralco Sparks to the team after missing the friendly due to prior commitments. Otherwise, the core of the team remains intact.
Meanwhile, our neighbors down south have been the subject of scrutiny both on and off the pitch. The internal squabbles involving the Indonesian Football Federation (PSSI) have already reached the attention of FIFA itself, with the organization handing down a June 15 deadline to resolve this issue. They lost all six matches in the Third round of their 2014 World Cup campaign, the last one being a 10-0 shellacking that elicited a preliminary investigation. They since have played friendlies with local club sides, as well as participating in the Al-Nakba Cup, where they finished fourth. They also played a match against visiting Serie A side Inter Milan, losing 4-2.
The team will be led by Dutch-Indonesian forward Irfam Bachdim, midfielder Oktovianus Maniani and goalkeeper Markus Haris Maulana. The three are the holdovers from the Suzuki Cup team.
Kick off for this match is 7:00 pm, with the telecast to be conducted on Studio 23 for the Philippines and RCTI for Indonesia.