The Philippine men's football team recently arranged two international friendly matches in Singapore, and the Filipino player Holtmann, who plays for Bochum in the Bundesliga, has been called up to the team and is about to make his national team debut, but today he will have to wait a while because of the positive test for the new crown.
Holtman, 26, is of mixed German and Filipino descent and plays as a left winger. Coming from Bremen's youth training, he has played for Bundesliga teams such as Mainz, Paderborn and Bochum so far in his career, and has been in the main position of Bochum this season, contributing 4 goals and 6 assists this season. Holtmann's most famous shot in the Bundesliga was last season, facing his old club Mainz, he staged a brilliant single-horse breakthrough, and this goal was also named the 2021 Bundesliga goal of the year.
In Asian football, the Philippine men's football team has always been a team with a tradition of "naturalized players", but in fact, according to Philippine law, the addition of players such as Holtman is not "naturalized". Because the Philippine Football Association has been implementing a policy of naturalization by blood, the players who have joined over the years are all mixed-race people of Filipino ancestry. Because the Philippines recognizes dual citizenship, that is, they have Filipino citizenship since birth, which is not the same as the naturalization policy previously implemented by the Chinese Football Association.
Nevertheless, the Philippine national team's debut to Holtman has been waiting for two years. Coach Parami admitted that few players of such a high level as Holtman have the enthusiasm to play for the Philippine national team, and the Philippine fans are very much looking forward to his debut, so it took coach Cooper two years to persuade Holtman to play for the country.
In recent years, the Chinese men's football team and the Philippines have played against each other many times in the Asian Cup and the World Preliminary Round, but Holtman has missed these games. In last year's Round of 40, the national football team defeated the Philippines 2-0 in the battle of life and death, and the Philippine team had urgently recruited Holtman into the lineup, but it was not included in the list. Not surprisingly, in the future, Holtman will be the absolute star of the Philippine team, and the Philippines will also have a combination of Championship goalkeeper Etheridge + Bundesliga flying wings. Holtman, who led the team to attack the 2023 Asian Cup in China, will there be a story with the national football team?