Neil Etheridge wants to win 100 caps

Neil Etheridge wants to win 100+ caps for the Philippines

Fulham goalkeeper Neil Etheridge is looking forward to adding to his international caps for the Philippines.

The Philippines face Malaysia and then Indonesia in the next few days and the young stopper has set a caps target.

“I think, last time I counted, I’m on 36 caps now,” said Etheridge. “I’m 22 years old so I’ll hopefully reach 100 by the time I finish my career!

“It’s a different sort of world when I go over there because it’s still a basketball dominated country to be honest, with football coming second best.

“But at the same time, football is progressing and they’re starting to build up the league there so it’s good for me because I can go over there and take a few training sessions and things like that.

“It is different compared to what it’s like here [in England] for me but I think it’s pretty much the same for a lot of the international lads when they go back home.”

The 22-year-old had picked up a wrist injury that ruled him out of action for the majority of the second half of the season.

“The injury has been alright – I thought I’d be out for the rest of the season so to make a comeback a few weeks early was good,” Etheridge added.

“Obviously the season has come to an end now but I’ve got some internationals in the summer so I’m just looking forward to playing in those to be honest.

“I’m going back to the Philippines at the end of May for the internationals. There are two full internationals – Malaysia away and Indonesia at home – and then we’ve got an under-23s game against China so hopefully I’ll get to play in all three or at least two of them.”