Etheridge, Marañon headline Azkals for Mongolia qualifiers, Schrock left off roster

MANILA, Philippines — Veteran goalkeeper Neil Etheridge and naturalized player Bienvenido Marañon provide star power to the Philippine Azkals 24-man roster headed for Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia for the final round of the AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers set to unfurl on June 8.

Etheridge, and Marañon join the likes of the debuting Gerrit Holtmann of the Bundesliga, Mike, and Manny Ott, Oskari Kekkonen, and United City's Anthony Pinthus.

Noticeably absent is former skipper Stephan Schrock who was already announced as being cut from the squad with the reinstatement of coach Thomas Dooley.

Schrock last saw action for the Azkals with the U-23 squad in the 31st Southeast Asian Games in Hanoi last month.

On the list as well are Kevin Mendoza, Mar Diano, Simone Rota, Miguel Mendoza, Daisuke Sato, Jefferson Tabinas, Jesse Curran, Jesus Melliza, Sandro Reyes, Dylan Debrucker, Dennis Villanueva, Oliver Bias, and Kenshiro Daniels.

Mark Hartmann, OJ Porteria, Patrick Reichelt, and the injured Amani Aguinaldo are also headed to Mongolia.

Among players who were supposed to see action but needed to be sidelined due to injury are Raphael Obermair, Patrick Strauss, Michael Kempter, Carli De Murga, Kevin Ingresso, and Diego Bardanca.

The Azkals play three games in Mongolia with Yemen their first assignment on Wednesday.

They face hosts Mongolia on June 11, then Palestine on the June 14th.