CEBU CITY, Philippines—The Philippines men’s national soccer team, popularly known as the Philippine Azkals, will team up with hosts Mongolia in the upcoming Asian Confederation Cup China 2023 qualifiers. football (AFC).

The Azkals belong to Group B after the draw for the competition on February 24 in Malaysia. The Azkals are grouped with Palestine, Yemen and Mongolia.

Mongolia will host the Group B qualifying matches from June 8-14, 2022 in its capital city of Ulaanbaatar.

Meanwhile, Group A consists of Jordan, Kuwait, Indonesia and Nepal. Group C includes Uzbekistan, Thailand, Maldives and Sri Lanka.

Group D is made up of India, Hong Kong, Afghanistan and Cambodia while Group E is played between Bahrain, Turkmenistan and Bangladesh. Finally, Group F includes Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Myanmar and Singapore.

The first team as well as the five best second teams of the qualifications will book a ticket for the final round which will be held in China in 2023.

The Azkals are looking to qualify for the AFC Asian Cup for the second consecutive time after appearing for the first time in the 2019 edition in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

However, they were expelled from the tournament after finishing bottom of the group stage of the 2019 AFC Cup. They lost all three matches against Kyrgyzstan, China and South Korea.

The last time the Azkals played was in the Asean Football Federation (AFF) Suzuki Cup in Singapore last year.

They were also expelled from the tournament during the group stage. They ended their campaign in third place in Group A six points clear of two wins and two losses.

/bmjo

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