
Some players and staff of the Philippine Azkals are now back in Manila after getting stuck for a few weeks in the United Arab Emirates following their campaign in the second round of the World Cup/Asian Cup Qualifiers.
Azkals team manager Dan Palami expressed gratitude to Philippine Airlines and other individuals after the team was able to board a repatriation flight from Dubai a few days ago.
“From the time we departed from the Philippines and then after the competition, the next challenge was to go home coming from UAE,” Palami said in a video message that was recorded before the flight. “So here we are, some of the players and staff can go back to Manila.”
UAE is one of seven countries that the country placed under a travel ban in a bid to prevent the transmission of the dreaded Delta variant.
Exempted are returning Filipinos who are part of repatriation flights organized by the government and private entities.
Palami and a few players and staff based in Manila have been in the UAE almost two weeks after the Azkals’ final match in the joint qualifiers held in Sharjah.
The Azkals played three matches in Sharjah that resulted in a 2-0 defeat to China, a 3-0 win over Guam and a 1-1 draw opposite Maldives.
Other players went to other countries where they are either based or had scheduled AFC Champions League competitions like Stephan Schrock, Justin Baas and Mike Ott for United City in Uzbekistan and Jarvey Gayoso and Kenshiro Daniels for Kaya-Iloilo in Thailand.