Turkmen team saddled with injuries

The Philippine Football Federation (PFF) has announced that the supposed friendly match between the Philippine Azkals and Turkmenistan on September 2 has been cancelled.

The Azkals were supposed to field a more complete lineup against Turkmenistan next Friday at the Philippine Sports Stadium.

“[The] PFF received an urgent notice from Football Federation of Turkmenistan that more than half of its national team players suffer from injury sustained during the recent Turkmenistan Championship match and Turkmenistan Cup last round matches,” PFF General Secretary Edwin Gastanes said in a statement.

“[The] PFF wishes to apologize to all sports fans, and football supporters for the cancellation of the friendly.”

Turkmenistan is no stranger to Philippine football, as the two sides have met four times already, dating back to 2009. The series is split so far, with each side winning two matches each. The last two times that the two squads have met, the Pinoy side came out on top, 2-0 in 2014 and 1-0 in 2013.

Gastanes said the Azkals would continue to train and prepare for the September 6 match in Bishkek against the Kyrgyz national team.

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