The Philippines men's national football team, popularly known as the Azkals, notched a second win in their two-week training camp in Germany. Saturday's early morning test match ended 4-1 against the SC Bonner Under-19 team.
Scoring one goal each for the Azkals were Ian Araneta, Phil Younghusband, Chieffy Caligdong, and Stephan Shrock. "Great game today," Caligdong said in a tweet to fans.
Elated, team manager Dan Palami thanked (through Twitter) the Filipino community in Germany "for the overwhelming support shown when they came in droves to cheer for the Azkals! Salamat po!"
In the crowd to give the national team a morale boost was Rowena Abales Chien, who is originally from Calasiao, Pangasinan. She is a head nurse in Germany for 18 years. She brought her family and friends with her to watch the game. The family was also in Duren for the first test match.
Philippines' Azkals vs SC Bonner Under-19 in a test match in Germany. Rowena Abales Chien
The Azkals. Rowena Abales Chien
Tonight, the Azkals have some down time. They split into three teams for a competition on who sings best the Lupang Hinirang, the Philippine national anthem. For incentive, Palami put up a prize pot of 1,500 euros.
For their third test match, the Azkals will face Ingolstadt I, a Bundesliga 2nd division team, in Gerolfingen, Bavaria in southern Germany Monday evening (Manila time.)
The last test match before heading off to Sri Lanka will be on June 24 against 2010-11 regional champions, Darmstadt 98, a 3rd division squad at the Bollenfalltor stadium in the Hesse region’s Darmstadt City. — LBG, GMA News
