Just Started to Coach Philippines, Eriksson Targets the Final of 2018 AFF Cup

DBasia.news – European reputable coach Sven-Goran Eriksson, conducted the press-conference for the first time since he was appointed to coach Philippines national team. The topic is not too far from the upcoming tournament, 2018 AFF Cup.

In that press conference, the 70-year-old coach discussed two tournaments of The Azkals, the 2018 AFF Cup and 2019 Asian Cup qualification on January. Soon, Philippines will join the 2018 AFF Cup. The Philippines are in the Group B with Timor Leste, Singapore, Indonesia, and the defending champion Thailand.

Eriksson, with his vast experience coaching the team like AS Roma, Fiorentina, Lazio, England national team, and Manchester City, admits that he has no idea about Southeast Asian football. He just knows some part of Asia due to his experience in China.

“Why not do something different than what I’ve done before? I have experience in Football in Asia from Australia, from Korea, Japan, China. Of course, but I don’t have experience with football in this part in Asia,” Eriksson said reported by Philstar.

“But football is more or less the same all over the world so if you can do it in Europe, I think you can do it in Asia as well. I hope so, that’s the target… to do well in the Suzuki Cup,” he emphasized.

Sven-Goran Eriksson

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It’s reasonable that Eriksson gets the final target because the former achievement of Philippines was just the semifinal in 2010, 2012, and 2014. Furthermore, the Sweden coach also met with Phil Younghusband and friends in the training camp at Laguna.

“From the few training sessions we had, we have very good players, who are dedicated and who work very hard so I think the future is bright,” he added.

Philippines will start the 2018 AFF Cup against Singapore on November 13. As the black horse team in the prestigious ASEAN football competition, Eriksson really knows that his team set the target to final and they want to win it for the first time. He also believes the players can handle the pressure.

“I think the pressure is on the whole team, the federation, the coaching staff and myself to try to do better in the Suzuki Cup than Phl has done before; that means at least reaching the finals. Of course, there’s pressure but we’re going to try and we all look forward to it,” Eriksson concluded.

Lastly, Eriksson ended the press conference session by discussing the chance for the Philippines to qualify for the Group C 2019 Asian Cup. The Philippines are in the same group with Kyrgyzstan and two strong teams, China and South Korea.

“I could easily say (the target is to) win it. I don’t know if it’s realistic to think that for the first time. But if you want to speak about the Asian Cup, we want to go through (to the knockout rounds). Go farther, which is not easy as you have (as groupmates) South Korea and China, not easy teams to beat. But that’s too far away, we have other things to do before that,” Eriksson concluded.