Road to China begins in Ulaanbaatar for the Philippine Azkals

Photo Credits: The Azkals

Vying for one of the 11 spots remaining for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup to be held in China, the Philippines will be traveling first to Ulanbataar, Mongolia where they'll have to finish on top or grab the best runners-up position in order to progress to the final rounds of Asia's most prestigious competition.

The draw for the third round of the 2023 AFC Asian Cup saw the Philippine Azkals being drawn to very familiar faces in group B with hosts Mongolia, Yemen, and Palestine.

With the games scheduled in the middle of this year, the Philippines will be facing Yemen in their opening fixture on the eighth of June. They only faced twice where the Philippines have won one out of two. They won their first meeting in Qatar with a scoreline of two goals to nil while the return leg in Manila saw the Azkals concede a solitary goal Ahmed Al-Sarori.

After their opening fixture against Yemen, they'll then face the hosts Mongolia whom they faced thrice already. Their first match was in Bacolod where the Azkals won two goals to nil while they are still reeling from the success in the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup.

This match saw the Panaad Parks and Stadium being filled up to the rafters and the very ground where Chieffy Caligdong chipped the ball above the defender before volleying it through the legs of the goalkeeper.

Though they would lose the return leg in Mongolia, they still went on to the next round of the 2014 FIFA World Qualifiers thanks to an away goal from James Younghusband.

Their third and final match will be played on the 14th of June where they would be hoping for redemption against their 2014 AFC Challenge Cup tormentors Palestine whom they already faced three times.

They first met on the 23rd of March, 2011 where the match ended in a scoreless draw. The Azkals would then grab game two of three in Nepal as the Philippines bagged third place in the 2012 AFF Challenge Cup.

Palestine then broke thousands of Philippine Football fans in their third meeting. With a chance to make it to their first AFC Asian Cup appearance, the Philippines faced Palestine in the final of the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup in the Maldives.

With their eyes set on a plane ticket to Australia, the Philippines went toe-to-toe against Palestine but it was the latter who got the victory thanks to a goal from Ashraf Nu'man in the 59th minute of the match.

In their hopes to make it two consecutive qualifications to the AFC Asian Cup, the Philippine Azkals would need to finish first or become one of the best runners-up in the qualifiers.

All matches will be held in Mongolia as they were picked as one of the hosts for the centralized venues for the qualifiers.