Thomas Dooley is the head coach of the Philippines national football team and he has recently voiced his thoughts about the upcoming 2016 edition of the 2016 AFF Suzuki Cup which is scheduled to kick-off on November 19 and conclude on December 17 of the ongoing year.
The Philippines national football team has consistently struggled on making it past the group stages. From 1996 until 2007, Philippines never managed to make it past the group rounds of the competition but in the following years they have been able to reach the semi-finals but that is the furthest that Philippines has ever reached.
Thailand are the current champions of the AFF Suzuki Cup and are the favorites of defending it as well. The Thailand national side has won this competition on 4 occasions which is the highest amount of times for any team along with Singapore who has also lift the title 4 times.
In the 2016 AFF Suzuki Cup, Philippines was pitted in the same group as Thailand and the head coach of the Philippines national side has talked about what it’s like of being placed with the current champions as well as with Singapore and Indonesia.
“Thailand are absolutely the best team in the tournament. They have a young team who is playing together, I guess since the Under-17 level. They have a very strong league and more than 60,000 fans who are pushing them to the limit. Singapore have a new coach in VaradarajuSundramoorthy and maybe they will be motivated and coming in with a positive mindset. Indonesia definitely want to have revenge against us too, after a horrible defeat in the last Suzuki Cup.” Philippines’ Thomas Dooley said.
The first match of Philippines in the group stages will be played on November 19 as the team of Thomas Dooley faces off with Singapore at the Philippine Sports Stadium.