"Flying" Muller calls full time on Azkals

Roland Muller has just retired for the Azkals duty. (file photo)

By Kevin Estrada

MANILA--Before the ball is being kicked for the friendly between the Philippines and Malaysia, Ceres-Negros' number one Roland Muller has called time to his international career.

On his Instagram account, the 29 year-old has cited family reasons as the cause of hanging his goalkeeping gloves for the country, in which he made his Azkals debut in the Long Teng Cup in Taiwan 6 years ago, in which he also played in the SEA Games as Hans Weiss' first choice in the U23 team.

Muller have played for the country 22 times and recorded two penalty saves against Turkmenistan and Maldives in the final Challenge Cup in 2014, yet he also had his share of bad moments on being the starting keeper in his international carer, including the losses to Myanmar in the 2014 Peace Cup and in the nightmarish Suzuki Cup in which he let Sarawut Masuk score the dagger strike that knocked the hosts out of their group in Bocaue last November.

Throwback 😊 ... 6 years ago, I made the first game for the Azkals, a new experience gave me the chance to see a part of my roots... teammates became like brothers! We lost, fought and won together. I had a great time, I was and will be forever proud to played for this beautiful country. I gave always 100%!Hard decision saying "goodbye". Time to take care of my own family. Thank you to support and for all what you did for me ... I will never forget this part of my life and I'm so thankful for this chance! I will be always an azkal ! 🐕💙⚽ #azkals#philippines#salamat#flyrolandfly

A post shared by Roland Müller (@rolandmueller1) on Mar 21, 2017 at 6:46pm PDT

With that announcement, Azkals gaffer Thomas Dooley has selected Global's Nick O'Donnell as his replacement not just for the friendly, but also their first Asian Cup Qualifier against Nepal on Tuesday.

Follow him on Twitter: @KevinLEstrada