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TAJIKISTAN became the foreign early bird of the Asian
Challenge Cup Group B qualifying tournament, arriving in Iloilo last
Thursday, five days before the event’s kick off on May 13.
The Tajikistanis are the
defending Asian Challenge Cup champions and, judging by their early
arrival, shows they are dead set on topping the four-team series
sponsored by the PSC, Magnolia, Smart, Gatorade, GNC and Mizuno, the
national team’s official outfitter.
Only the group topnotcher in the
event also featuring host Philippines, Brunei and Bhutan will
advance to the ACC finals set in Hyderabad, India from July 30 to
August 10.
“As expected, they are pretty
tall and heavily-built,” said national coach Norman Fejidero in a
telephone interview from Iloilo, where the RP squad has been
training since mid-April, after getting a glimpse of their Central
Asian rivals.
Among the notable Tajikistan
players listed in the line-up is veteran forward Numondzhon
Kkakhimov, a mainstay of CSKA Dunzhanbe in the Tajikistan Premier
Division.
The 30-year-old striker scored
all of the team’s four goals when it lost to Singapore in last
year’s Asian World Cup second round qualifying contests.
Fegidero, himself a former
national standout, said he hopes to offset Tajikistan’s height and
heft edge in offense by tapping a core of tall veteran defenders led
by Ali Borromeo, Anton del Rosario and Jason Cordova.
“We also have some pretty tall
defenders like six-footers Ali, Anton and Jason, who can match up
with Tajikistan. We definitely won’t be giving up too much ground
on defense,” he said.
The Filipino booters take on the
Tajikistanis on May 15 at the Iloilo City Sports Complex after
opening their bid against Brunei two days earlier. Tajikistan makes
its debut in the event against Bhutan on the same day at the Barotac
Nuevo football field.
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