The Philippine Online Chronicles

After the successful charity match against the CF Internacional de Madrid attended by 8,000 footbal fans that raised P2 million for the benefit of typhoon Sendong victims, the Philippine men's national football team will face another foreign football club as part of their efforts to raise donations for calamity victims in Northern Mindanao.

On January 21, the Azkals will face third-tier South Korean team Incheon Citizen FC for the Kia Rio Cup friendly match at the Rizal Memorial Stadium. The upcoming historic match will be the first meeting of the Philippines and South Korea in a football match in over 50 years.

Incheon Citizen FC head coach Hyun-Chang Lee said in a statement, "we were very moved by what happened to the Philippines recently with the tragic floods. Even though we are coming from far away and intend to try our best to win, this is a friendly match for a good cause.”

He added, “we want to show that Koreans care about not only Koreans living in the Philippines, but the Fil-Koreans and also our Filipino brothers and sisters. It doesn't matter who wins, because the real victory is the improvement of our relationship with Filipinos through sports. We want to learn from Filipinos."

Young Ki Lee, Head Coach of the Korea National Under-20 Men's Football Team and Head Coach of the Korea National Women's Football Team said, "The Philippines and South Korea have not played for a very long time. Filipinos and Koreans should feel the patriotism in their hearts during the game. That's another reason why people are looking forward to this game. But the goodwill and charity is also in all our minds, and the combination of these factors is why I believe this event will bring our two countries further together,” he said.

The game is a joint cooperation of ABS-CBN Sports Dragon Promotions, the Philippine Football Federation and Kia Motors.

The proceeds of the match will go to the victims of typhoon Sendong and the ABS-CBN Sagip Kapamilya. Ticket prices are P100, P300, P500, P1000, and P1500 and are available in all Ticket World outlets. ABS-CBN’s Studio 23 will air the game live at 6 p.m.

Members of Icheon Citizen FC are set to arrive in Manila on Friday.

The South Korean players' line-up:

Goalkeepers: 1 - Hwang Sae Ha, 31 Jin Jae Young

Defenders: 13 - Kim Kyung Hwan, 19 - Jeong Jun Ho, 20 - Ko Kyung Joon, 33 Go Hyun Bok, 37 Kwon Hyuk Tae

Midfielders: 8 - Lim Hyun Woo, 9 - Moon Joo Won, 18 - Park Jin Young, 26 - Ko Jung Han

Forwards: 10 - Lee Jin Young, 11 - Yang Ji Hoon, 12 - Ko Sung In, 14 - Park Chun Sin, 16 - Kim Seung Cheol, 32 - Bin Tae Kwan