Irish adviser Scott Cooper will take over the coaching chores of the Philippine Azkals national men’s football team.
Team manager Dan Palami named Cooper as the interim coach of the Azkals after former England soccer captain Terry Butcher suddenly stepped down.
The change came more than a month after Butcher was appointed last June 14 to replace Thomas Dooley.
Butcher was supposed to prepare the Azkals for a first-ever Asian Cup appearance in January, 2019.
“I’m sorry to announce that I will not be proceeding in the role as head coach of the Philippines national football team,” Butcher said in a statement released to the British press.
Hours after stepping down, Palami put Cooper in charge of the Azkals.
The 48-year-old Cooper was appointed as senior team adviser of the Azkals last June.
He will now oversee the national team’s training camp in Bahrain in September 2018.
Since 1997, Cooper has been managing many football squads all over the world, including the Independent Schools Football Association England Under-15 National Football Team and the Buriram United FC in the Thai Premier League.
“Regretfully, I’ve not been able to make this work in the way that I intended and I’ve decided not to continue in the role,” said Butcher.
“As manager of the National Team, I was looking forward to working with Mr. Butcher as we build a strong team for the country’s first Asian Cup. It is unfortunate, however, that Mr Butcher had expressed difficulty in executing his plans for the national team program,” said Palami in a statement.
Palami said that with Cooper taking over, the Azkals will remain focused on getting the best preparation for the ASEAN Football Federation-Suzuki Cup and the Asian Football Confederation-Asian Cup.
The Philippine Football Federation, through general secretary Edwin Gastanes, said they have accepted Butcher’s decision.
“We wish Mr. Butcher good luck. The PFF will continue with the necessary team preparations,” said Gastanes in a statement.
Butcher said he had come to the conclusion that he was unable to build a “robust” programme for the Philippines team.
“The vital issue for myself was to carefully build a robust plan to meet the football ambitions of the national team,” Butcher said.
Butcher was named in a shake-up to replace Thomas Dooley, who qualified the team for next year’s Asian Cup and guided them to an all-time high of 111th in the FIFA rankings in May.
The Azkals’ next major test will be November’s AFF Suzuki Cup, the Southeast Asian championship, before January’s Asian Cup, where the Philippines are grouped with China, South Korea and Kyrgyzstan. With AFP
