UNDER newly appointed coach Norman Fegidero, the national Under-23 squad bound for the Vietnam Southeast Asian Games in May hopes to get the sorely needed match fitness when it competes in the Copa Paulino Alcantara kicking off today at the PFF national training center pitch in Carmona, Cavite.
The squad is among the six teams vying in the tournament ushering in the Philippines Football League hostilities that also include defending champion Kaya-Iloilo FC, Stallion-Laguna FC, Mendiola FC, Maharlika FC and Dynamic Herb Cebu FC.
The league opens with clubs Kaya-Iloilo and Maharlika tangling at the Carmona field at 5 p.m.
“There was always a lack of match-fitness for our team. So this time we want to make the preparations as early as possible,” noted national team manager Dan Palami in an online press conference organized by the Philippine Football Federation.
“As Sir Dan said, fitness has been a massive issue in the last couple of camps. But we have put the boys in training for a week (at the Carmona field). They started fitness testing with six tests. Now they are doing heavy conditioning work and will be tested again in a month’s time,” said English coach Stewart Hall, who was introduced as the PFF’s new technical director.
At the helm of the national squads that saw action in the AFF Suzuki Cup in Singapore last December and the AFF Under-22 tournament in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in February, Hall said he is glad to yield the reins to Fegidero, his deputy in both competitions.
