Younghusbands vow involvement in Philippine football after retirement
MANILA, Philippines — Despite hanging up their jerseys as footballers for good, brothers James and Phil Younghusband are promising a comeback to Philippine football — this time in the sidelines.
After James announced his retirement from football last week, it marked the end of an era for the Philippine Azkals.
Each playing more than a decade for the national team, and club teams as well, the Younghusbands truly left a mark in Philippine football on and off the pitch.
But the two Fil-British booters are open to coaching the national team in the future.
Speaking during the recent episode of Tiebreaker Vods' Crossover Podcast, the two brothers revealed their end goal of coaching in the Philippines.
"I wanna get back to the UK, get to coaching there... gain some knowledge and also look to the US as well," James said.
"I think it's a good place to learn how they do things there and can bring back to the Philippines. My goal was always to help develop Philippine football, and to go abroad, learn more and come and share that to the Philippines," he added.
Before his retirement, James had already hinted at his willingness to eventually coach the Philippine booters some time in the future.
Phil, who retired back in November 2019, shared the same sentiments as his older brother.
"We feel if we want to grow in the sport [as coaches] and we want to help develop football even more in the Philippines, we need to go abroad and gain more knowledge," Phil said.
Both James and Phil have been instrumental to the growth of Philippine football in the last 15 years.
The brothers have more than 100 caps each with the national team while Phil remains the top scorer of the Azkals with 52 goals in his stint with the senior team.
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