Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Doha: Thomas Dooley remains focused on the job in hand as the Philippines seek to edge a step closer to a maiden AFC Asian Cup appearance in 2019 despite having to deal with a raft of injuries ahead of Tuesday’s meeting with Yemen.
Javier Patino, Amani Aguinaldo, Luke Woodland and Misagh Bahadoran were already ruled out of the trip to Saoud Bin Abdulrahman Stadium for the Group F leaders.
Influential midfielder Manny Ott then suffered a medial collateral ligament injury in training in Doha and now also faces a spell on the sidelines.
Dooley has bolstered his ranks with the addition of uncapped Sean Patrick Kane from JPV Marikina FC and Jess Melliza from Stallion Laguna, with defender Daisuke Sato also making a timely return from suspension.
“It is a very important game obviously for all of us. If we win it will be huge for our goal to qualify for the Asian Cup. If we tie, we are still in a good position to qualify.
"We have two chances to score the necessary points to qualify. If we lose we still have it in our hands to qualify, but we have a lot of injuries,” said Dooley, confirming Ott is also expected to miss November’s trip to Nepal.
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