Why James Younghusband was cut from the Azkals, according to coach Dooley

For the first time in a long while, only one of the Younghusband brothers will play for the Azkals as the national football team gears for the 2018 World Cup qualifiers.

 

James Younghusband missed the final cut of the Azkals' lineup ahead of the team's match against Bahrain, leaving Phil to carry the squad on June 11 at the Philippine Sports Stadium in Bulacan.

 

Coach Thomas Dooley said his decision was nothing personal against the midfielder, and that he was only concerned about building the roster from his best-performing players.

 

"It's performance that counts. It's not who you are, it's not how old you are, how famous you are," he told 24 Oras in an interview. "You need to work hard in training to get your chance to play in the game."

 

 

Other marquee names were also dropped from the lineup in previous tournaments, including defender Stephan Schrock and goalkeeper Neil Etheridge.

 

The two have since been called up again to don the national colors, joining Phil Younghusband, Mark Hartmann, Amani Aguinaldo, Kenshiro Daniels, Daisuke Sato, Rob Gier, Patrick Deyto, Juan Guirado, Jerry Lucena, Manny Ott, Javier Patiño, Simone Rota, Patrick Reichelt, Martin Steuble, Tomas Trigo, Dennis Villanueva, Luke Woodland, Misagh Bahadoran, Stephan Palla, Iain Ramsay, and Kevin Ingreso.

 

"James is obviously a fantastic player. I've spoken to him and he's taking it well," said Etheridge about his teammate. "He's gonna work hard you know. Everyone has had their time out of the team, Phil included years and years back, including myself last year."

 

Etheridge said he is confident that the older Younghusband will bounce back and make it to the next roster.

 

"When he plays his UFL games he'll catch coach Dooley's eye and hopefully he'll be in the next squad," he said. —Marisse Panaligan/JST, GMA News