Newly installed Philippine Azkals head coach Josep Ferre believes the upcoming AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup 2022 will boil down to four contenders.

The Spanish mentor made the remark shortly after the men’s national football team lost a competitive friendly to Vietnam on Wednesday, 1-0.

“I think the four teams Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia will compete fiercely for the championship,” said Ferre, as per the Vietnam Football Federation.

“If I have to point out, I think Vietnam is the strongest team in Southeast Asia, but in football, nothing can be said. In our group, Thailand and Indonesia also have strong lineups.”

Vietnam is the defending Southeast Asian (SEA) Games men’s football champion, having beaten Thailand for the gold at the 2021 SEA Games.

The Thais, meanwhile, are the AFF Cup holders, besting Indonesia in 2020, after getting past Vietnam in the semifinals.

Ferre also acknowledged that the Philippines has ways to go compared to their neighbors, given that the team opted to go for a younger lineup, which includes a handful of current Azkals Development Team (ADT) stars participating in the Philippines Football League.

“The Vietnamese team prepared very carefully to win the championship, while I only led the Philippines for a short time, with at most five to six training sessions,” shared Ferre.

In spite of the stark difference in level of play, the Azkals still managed a solid chance in the 35th minute of the exhibition contest, when Yrick Gallantes sent a cross to Jesus Melliza inside the penalty box.

However, the Kaya FC-Iloilo winger was unable to control the pass properly as the match remained scoreless at that point.

“There was not much time to prepare tactics. We knew what we had to do to play against a team like Vietnam, so we had to defend deep in the first half. In the second half I put a lot of young players in and they had some efforts,” added Ferre.

The 39-year-old coach was formally named the Azkals’ new mentor last December 8.

No stranger to the Southeast Asian football scene, Ferre saw stints with Thai clubs Buriram United and Bangkok Glass before his tenure with the Philippines.

The Azkals, which are in Group A, will open their 2022 AFF campaign against Cambodia on December 20, before hosting Brunei on December 23 at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila.

The squad will then travel again and face Thailand on December 26, before rounding out its group stage run against Indonesia at home on January 2, 2023.

Only the top two teams in each of the two groups will advance to the knockout semifinals. In Group B are Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, and Laos.