No Bacolod tuneup games for RP XI

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines - Negrense football fans' woes will be further compounded as the previously announced schedule of tuneup matches between the RP men's team and local varsity squads have been indefinitely cancelled. RP team head coach and former national team mainstay Norman Fegidero Jr. of Bacolod City told Sun.Star Bacolod in telephone interview Friday they have cancelled plans to play tuneup matches versus Bacolod teams at the Panaad Sports Complex "since there is no one to coordinate the said games." The RP booters are currently undergoing training camp at the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) National Training Center in Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo as part of preparations for the 2008 Asian Challenge Cup Group 2 Qualifiers slated next month in Iloilo. The team, which includes several Fil-foreigners, as well as standouts from Negros Occidental, has already played a series of tune-up matches against local squads in San Carlos City and Dumaguete City, Oriental Negros and left Friday for a three-day swing in Cebu City. "Playing against our local boys would have been a rare opportunity for local fans to watch the national team during tune-up matches here, but now that it's not happening it's really a big blow to football lovers in Bacolod and Negros Occidental," said former football association official Bebot Padilla. The Asian Challenge Cup Group 2 Qualifiers featuring the national teams of Brunei, Bhutan, Tajikistan and the Philippines, was originally scheduled at the Panaad pitch in Barangay Mansilingan but was later transferred to Iloilo by organizers. Panaad was venue of the 2005 Southeast Asian Games Men's Football Competition, as well as the 2006 Asean Football Championship (formerly the Tiger Cup), which saw the teams of Laos, Cambodia, Brunei, Timor Leste and the Philippines compete. Fegidero, who is a varsity head coach of West Negros University, the reigning Nopsscea champions, said among the Negrenses who have remained at training camp are Archie Bayquin, Arnie Pasinabo, Floriano Pacilan and Louie Casas from University of St. La Salle and WNU mainstays Joel Ballo-allo, Robert Cañedo, Joven Bedic and Lemuel Unabia, and Manila-based Edmundo Mercado Jr. and Edward Sacapaño. The final lineup of the RP team is expected to be finalized by the end of the month, Fegidero added. - Sun.Star Bacolod