Funding Azkals a Yeoman’s Job

Football, thanks to the Azkals, is fast becoming the country’s obsession, replacing basketball as the Filipinos’ favorite sport.

But in order to preserve football’s emergence as the game best suited for the Filipinos and, at the same time, sustain the newfound popularity of the Azkals, the sport needs the continuous support of both the government and the private sector.

It’s truly a yeoman’s job in seeing the program through.

“TV, print and radio must continue to support football so that the interest will always be there,” said former soccer great Vic Sison, the goalie of the Philippine team that beat powerhouse Japan, 1-0, in Tokyo during the 1954 Asian Games.

On the other hand, the incumbent president of the Philippine Football Federation Mariano “Nonong” Araneta expressed a rosy future for the sport. He said that his group is talking with the Philippine Sports Commission to see how the PFF can oversee the maintenance of the Rizal Memorial pitch.

The 56-year-old Araneta has estimated the cost of maintenance could reach P900, 000 a year.
But the PSC’s allocation from Congress is not enough to spur a nationwide sports development program, including the promotion of football, which entails an enormous budget needed for the upkeep of foreign-raised booters and a coach from Germany, Hans Michael Weiss.

As a result of this dilemma, the PFF is now depending on the private sector for the crucial backup support.
Renowned sports patron Manuel V. Pangilinan, benefactor of the Smart Gilas national basketball team, leads the cash-rich private individuals and firms who are the chief backers of the football team.

In time, the Philippines will rise again and would no longer be the “Sick Man of Asia” in football.

* * *

In the old days, before we became a consumer-oriented community society, children created their own tools, especially for sports. Footballs or soccer balls were made from old rags, with their cover filled with hair gathered from the barber or hairdressers shop. Because these balls totally lacked bounce, naturally ground football was all that was possible.

In poor African and Asian countries, football shoes were out of the question. As these were not available, soccer players wrapped their feet with rags to prevent injuries.

On the other hand, players from highly developed countries are luckier because they can afford to buy such luxuries like football shoes, playing uniforms and appropriate equipment.

It is also worth mentioning here, that the price of one pair of branded football shoes made in the United States or Europe is more than the monthly salary of a worker in Africa or the other least developed countries.

By Manolo R. Iñigo

So Where Do The PH Azkals Football Really Stand?

Excited Football fans, endlessly thrilled despite that humbling defeat by the Philipine Azkals to Kuwait, are also asking another question. Where do their newfound sports heroes actually stand? Of course, the Azkals deserved all the applause for the gallant battle they waged against powerhouse Kuwait at the Rizal Memorial Stadium last week. But without meaning to dampen enthusiasm, there were other observers here at home who felt the Kuwaitis were not properly appreciated.

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Why?

For one, there were post-game reports that the gifted Kuwaitis were seen enjoying intimate moments with comely Filipino entertainers at the Sofitel, while the Azkals were deep in final training for that crucial game. Which could only mean that, contrary to earlier reports, the Kuwaitis had never been seriously bothered by the Azkals, which they blanked, 3-0, in their homeground. “Kuwait showed a lot of class last Thursday—they are No. 95 and we are 162nd in the Fifa rankings of July 27,” informed premier national sports statistician Joseph Dumuk, now retired in La Union.

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That was definitely a demotion, Dumuk said, adding that, it more than showed how far the Philippines has lagged and the Kuwaitis showed how much harder we have to work in order to advance. “To give you an idea,” Dumuk said, “where our neighbors stand: THA 119, SIN 131, INA 137, VIE 144 and MAS 146.” He added that the top teams in Asia are: Japan 16, South Korea 28, Iran 54, People’s Republic of China 73, Qatar, 90, Jordan 91, Saudi Arabia 92.

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He asked: Can you imagine the resources we need in order to break into the Top 100? Dumuk did not say it, but he definitely felt that it would take more than the current tact of taking in talented foreigners with Filipino lineage to the national squad in order to hit the dream goal. Indeed, the Azkals, with their current worth, have surpassed themselves by firing up football enthusiasm hereabouts. But, as cold-bloodedly demonstrated by the Kuwaitis at the Rizal Memorial field, we need more than the current momentum in order to fully redeveloped football in the Philippines. The Azkals and their great results are, at best, products of a commendable crash program.

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But you need not be a sports development expert to know that, more than instant popularity, there’s the crying need to honestly upgrade game standards here at home. And this can’t be done by one sector, or one person alone, as in the case of the amiable national team manager Dan Palami. The game against Kuwait clearly showed that while our players were often frantically sprinting, the visitors would just strut, if not stroll, in full control. The Philippines, no doubt, is light years behind Kuwait in the area of native football pedigree. OK, the Azkals will continue to be great in their own right for now. But manager Palami cannot deny how he dreams of one day handling an All-Filipino team that could match dribbling and dancing wits with world-class talents like the homegrown Kuwaitis, home or away, rain or shine.

By Recah Trinidad

Azkals Lose Anew To Kuwait Al-Azraq, 1-2

MANILA Philippines (July 29, 2011) - Despite being buoyed up by supportive hometown crowd at the Rizal Memorial Stadium last night, the Philippine Azkals lost to Kuwait Al-Azraq, 1-2, In the second match of the 2nd Round of their World Cup 2014 Asian Qualifying series.

The Philippine Azkals drew first blood when Stephan Schrock nailed a goal from 20 yards, ending the first half up 1-0. But the celebratory mood of the Filipinos would soon fade.

In the second half, the Kuwaitis proved too poised and too experienced for the Azkals as they scored 2 goals - one from Yousef Naser in the 62nd minute and another one from Waleed Jumah in the 86th minute - to wind up the match 2-1 and dashing Azkals' World Cup dream at least for now.

Underscoring their strength and proving that they were not 10-time Gulf Cup of Nations champions for nothing, the Kuwaitis were in fact down to 10 players starting in the 58th when Fahad Al Ebrahim was sent off for a hard tackle on Chieffy Caligdong. But this did not matter to the Kuwaitis - nor the wet field due to on and off drizzles and the cheering hometown crowd that were thought to provide advantage to the Azkals.

With this game's result added to the 3-0 sweep by the Kuwaitis in their home court last Saturday, Kuwait wins on 5-1 aggregate score to advance to 3rd round where Japan, Australia, South Korea, Bahrain and North Korea have been seeded, along with 14 other winners of Round 2.

Kuwait Coach Goran Tufegdzic sees his team going all the way through the World Cup this year.

Azkals coach Michael Weiss is still a picture of optimism. “This game and the previous game show how bitter and hard football can be. I think the team can take this defeat. We had to take it fairly and also acknowledge that we went up against a tough opponent,” he said.

RESULTS: 1-2 (1:5 AGG)

Round 2: FIFA World Cup 2014 Qualifyer

1^st Leg – Mohammed Al-Hammad Stadium, Hawalli

Kuwait	Matches	Philippines
Yousef AL SULAIMAN (16')	3:0(1:0)
Mesaed AL ENEZI (68')
Fahad AL EBRAHIM (84')

Officials:

Referee: Mohammad ABU LOUM

Assistant Referee 1: Mohammed SALEH

Assistant Referee 2: Waleed ABU HASHISH

Fourth official: Suleiman JABER

2^nd Leg – Rizal Memorial Stadium, Manila

Philippines	Matches	Kuwait
Stephan SCHROCK (45'+3)	1:2(1:0)	Yousef NASER (61')
		Waleed JUMAH (85')

Officials:

Referee: LIU Kwok Man

Assistant Referee 1: CHUNG Ming Sang

Assistant Referee 2: LAM Chi Ho

Fourth official: NG Kai Lam

AGGREGATE SCORE:

PHILIPPINES	Matches	Kuwait
1	:	5

Azkals gear up for training in Bahrain

By Rick Olivares
Bleachers' Brew

Philippines players mob azkals’ midfielder Emelio “Chieffy” Caligdong to celebrate after Chieffy scored the first goal against Sri Lanka during their 2014 FIFA world Cup qualifying match in Manila on July 03, 2011. The Philippine Azkals won 4-1.

After the historic 4-0 win by the Philippines over Sri Lanka in first round of the Asian Qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, the Philippine Men’s Football National Team will take a break for a few days while the team’s brain trust maps out their next moves. The next move is another training camp in the Persian Gulf country of Bahrain by mid-July for a home-and-away series with Kuwait.

“I think we really need a short break,” said right back Anton del Rosario during the team’s celebratory dinner at the Diamond Hotel in Manila last night. “We were away for a month and while the travel and the training camps abroad are good, you just get homesick after a while. That is why the win against Sri Lanka here at home was so good.”

“Masarap na nandito na ulit sa Pilipinas at lalong lalo na panalo pa,” reinforced Azkals co-captain Chieffy Caligdong.

National Team manager Dan Palami said that acclimatization with the Middle Eastern weather conditions was just as important. “You saw how that was a problem in Mongolia although we had trained in Japan,” said Palami. “That was difficult because of the cold. This time it’s the heat. So it’s extremes. That is why we pay close attention to the players’ conditioning.”

The team manager also said the training camp was made through an invitation by the Bahrain Football Federation and the Filipino community residing in the gulf state.

National head coach Hans Michael Weiss said that it is possible that he will lose some of the team’s top players due to other commitments but he could have defenders Ray Jonsson and Jerry Lucena available for the away match against Kuwait which is ranked #102 by FIFA.

Gaurav Thapa, Competitions Officer of the Asian Football Confederation, confirmed the suspension of midfielder Stephan Schrock, who had a superb series against the Brave Reds, and team captain Aly Borromeo for their next match after accumulating two yellow cards in the Sri Lanka home-and-away series.

“We have to play a different kind of game against Bahrain,” disclosed the German coach. “Now we begin to play more quality opponents and play in quality pitches.”

During the post-match press conference yesterday, Weiss took a dig at the pitch at the Sugathadasa Stadium in Colombo, “The pitch in Sri Lanka is normally used for planting tomatoes or potatoes.”

Added Palami, “I was thinking with better pitch conditions we can impose our offense and bring up the ball much better. You saw what happened – four goals.”

Palami added that the tinkering with this team isn’t done yet. “We should have a plan to certain situations where one is off, we have another come in and play quality minutes. We are still in need of a deeper bench. We’re still tweaking some parts and we still have that gaping hole on top of back four.”

The national team manager who during last year’s successful Suzuki Cup run bared his goal of seeing the Philippine ranked somewhere in the 120s said the target is doable and reachable. “I think so you just have to make sure we are not complacent and we have to work hard as a team. We have the talent and we have these regular training camps. We may not achieve the desired results all the time but these are things we have to learn from.”

Notes: Neil Etheridge shed tears for the recent passing of his grandfather. It isn’t only the Philippines’ number one goalkeeper who is grieving. Paul Mulders lost his father two weeks ago while Stephan Schrock is still dealing with his father’s passing a few months ago. Published in Bleacher's Brew

Are the Azkals for real?

CHEERED on by 13,000 screaming fans and playing on familiar ground the Philippine Azkals trounced Sri Lanka , 4-0, in a rain-soaked match at the Rizal Football Stadium to advance to the World Cup qualifier against Kuwait.

A few days ago the Azkals were held to a 1-1 tie in Sri Lanka.

Swashbuckling Chieffy Caligdog of the Philippine Air Force started the scoring spree by bouncing the ball off the left goalpost and into the net early in the first half. Later, Phil Younghusband eluded the Sri Lanka goalkeeper to slip another goal to push the team ahead, 2-0. And it was only the first half.

Just like the game in Sri Lanka the game was physical from the start until the end. Both Aly Borromeo and Stepahn Shrock were sent off after being issued their second Yellow Cards.

In the second half, Angel Aldeguer Guirado also eluded the over-eager Sri Lanka goal keeper, who challenged his attacker too early, to hike the score to 3-0 for the Philippines. Phil Younghusband finalized the score at 4-0, when he drove the ball just below the crossbar from a penalty kick.

Fixture

World Cup 2014 Qualifyer

Round 2: Philippine Azkals Vs. Kuwait Al-Azraq

DATE	VENUE		MATCHES
July 23	HAWALLY  Mohammed Al-Hammad Stadium	KUWAIT	-	PHILIPPINES
July 28	MANILA Rizal Memorial Stadium	PHILIPPINES	-	KUWAIT

1^st Leg (July 23) – Mohammed Al-Hammas Stadium, Hawally

Kuwait	WCQ	Philippines
	-

2^nd Leg (July 28) – Rizal Memorial Stadium, Manila

Philippines	WCQ	Kuwait
	-

FIFA RANKINGS

(Last Updated: 29 Jun 2011)

Philippine Azkals	Kuwait Al-Azraq
159	102

RESULT: 4-Nil (5:1 Aggregate Score)

Round I: FIFA World Cup 2014 Qualifyer

1^st Leg – Sugathadasa, Colombo

Sri Lanka	Matches	Philippines
(43') Chathura GUNARATHNA	1:1 (1:0)	(50') Nathaniel BURKEY

Officials

Referee: Tayeb SHAMSUZZAMAN

Assistant Referee 1: Mahabubur RAHMAN

Assistant Referee 2: Aminul RIPON

Fourth official: Abdul MIRON

2^nd Leg – Rizal Memorial Stadium, Manila

Philippines	Matches	Sri Lanka
(19') Emelio CALIGDONG	4:0 (2:0)
(43' 57'PEN) Phil YOUNGHUSBAND
(51') Ángel GUIRADO

     Officials

Referee: KIM Sang Woo

Assistant Referee 1: JANG Jun Mo

Assistant Referee 2: YOON Kwangyeol

Fourth official: KO Hyungjin

AGGREGATE SCORE:

PHILIPPINES	Matches	SRI LANKA
5	:	1