THE
Philippine Football Federation is looking into the possibility of getting a
Fil-French goalkeeper and two Fil-British standouts to play for the Azkals in
the future.
Eighteen-year-old
Alphonse Areola could someday beef up the aging Azkals’ roster should talks to
make him play for flag and country prosper.
The
6’2” Areola currently plays for the Paris St. Germaine Club, a squad which sees
action in a first-division league in France.
Areola,
who used to be a member of the France’s
national under-16 team, is currently PSG’s third-choice goalkeeper.
He
is reportedly being groomed to become one of their top goalies and as a part of
France’s
senior national team as well.
At
the moment, Areola is keen on joining the French men’s national squad.
The
parents of London-based standouts Aaron de Rama and Jessie Arroyo have also
come forward and expressed their children’s interest in seeing action for the
national squad.
National
team manager Dan Palami, who is leaving for Europe
this August, said he is set to reach out to at least six Fil-European
prospects.
Azkals’
team member Rob Gier, a Fil-British right back, has informed Palami of the new
prospects as the squad’s newly designated scout. Peter Atencio
Philippine
Azkals manager Dan Palami is off, with Brussels,
Belgium as the first stop on
a working tour of Europe, searching for more
football players of Filipino lineage to lure to the national cause. Some of the
veteran Fil-foreign players on the Azkals are playing bigger roles with their
mother clubs in Europe, and are going to be
less available as the seasons wear on. Some of them may not even be released by
their pro teams, at all.
When
asked how he was going to attract these players, and if the job was easier now
with the team’s relative fame, Palami had a standard-issue answer.
“What’s
my pitch going to be? It’s going to be the same as it was with guys like Rob
Gier, when nobody knew – or cared – about the Azkals,” explained Palami. “It’s
a chance to play for flag and country.”
What
the general public does not realize (particularly those who have biases against
the inclusion of “half-Filipino” players), is that it is often a great
financial sacrifice for these young men to come to the Philippines at the cost of jobs with limited
slots in the soccer hotbeds in Europe. Some of
our players receive $10,000-$20,000 salaries to play professionally in Europe, which is no mere pittance. Yet, many of them have
risked their professional careers and taken leaves of absence to suit up for
matches wearing the Philippine flag.
Managing
sensitivities on the issue of race is also something the Philippine Football
Federation is now conscious of. Bear in mind that the huge sums being given as
sponsorship money to the Azkals actually go to the coffers of the PFF for
grassroots development. With the sport’s development having been “dormant for
decades” as Palami says, it will “take four years” or so before we develop
another Chieffy Caligdong. In the meantime, the team needs the technology
transfer and seasoned talent of Fil-foreign players who are willing to don the
flag.
There
are a lot of big tournaments awaiting the Azkals, who are also part of the
United Football League individually, and to some extent, members of the
Under-23 team. The Southeast Asian Games involves the younger Azkals, while the
Suzuki Cup and AFC are slated for next year. These major tournaments coincide
with breaks in major European leagues, as FIFA avoided the overlap between
national and club teams. In the meantime, there are more diamonds in the rough
home and away, waiting to be discovered.
It’s probably every girl’s dream come true to be given gift certificates to buy anything in a shop, while members of the Philippine Azkals team stand by to assist. If the shopping money is for Health and Beyond, a health supplement specialty store, and we are still referring to the Philippine Azkals, that girl would not entirely be me. Maybe it’s Bea Robles, the handpicked teenage fan pulled into VIP during the meet and greet event of Health and Beyond because she was screaming heartfelt “I love you’s” to the players from outside the store without shame. Tears swelled in her eyes and her cheeks blushed like a tomato when organizers finally said, “Okay, you! You can come in,” and suddenly she said, “OMG, I’m shy na!” Unable to muster up the same courage to profess her admiration for the hunky men apparently.
Even though the Azkals didn’t snag their win against Kuwait, countrymen were supportive. It was not like it was the greatest upset the country has seen. In fact, they were able to accomplish a feat in itself by providing, if even for a while, some glimmer of hope that we had our chance at the World Cup. It’s just too bad people forgot that Kuwait is a pretty strong team. It would have been quite an upset to win against Kuwait.
What do we know about the Azkals, besides coming into the country, dashingly good looking with promises that this half-Filipino team will make it somewhere? Even while their claim to fame carried a somewhat politically-offensive name (azkals derives from the term asong kalye, meaning half-breed or mongrel), to be frank, it was their ruggedly handsome charm that made them the stars they are today.
Defender Rob Gier and Me
So when not training on the fields defending the Philippine flag, the Azkals mostly do a lot of “being celebrities.” Which is why a day after their game with Kuwait, some members of the Azkals team were at a meet-and-greet function in Health and Beyond to promote living an active and healthy lifestyle. Special guests were given P2,000 each worth of shopping money to buy anything from the store, while the Azkals, dressed in employee Health and Beyond shirts, smiled for screaming fans and stood around to take questions. Present at the event were midfielders Nate Burkey and Simon Greatwich, defenders Rob Gier and Anton del Rosario and striker Misagh Bahadoran.
Health and Beyond has a wide variety of food supplements for health buffs, top-quality vitamins and even products addressing sports nutrition. I go home with some handy vitamin C and echinacea, seeing as my lifestyle is neither healthy nor active. President of Health and Beyond Miguel Garcia, an avid fan of football (he insists on using the term football as opposed to soccer), has been following the sport long before the Azkals even came into the picture. Riding on the growing love the country has for the sport and for the Azkals, he put two and two together and decided the Azkals would be as the perfect faces to endorse Health and Beyond. “Health and Beyond is about nutrition, proper diet, taking care of your bodies in whatever lifestyle you are in. And I think that the Azkals embody that because they are professional athletes. I saw the relationship and thought, what’s better than getting the Azkals to endorse Health and Beyond?” Miguel adds that even if you are not an active person, Health and Beyond carries products that will help people in the office overcome stress.
When the crowd begins to dissipate and the event comes to an end, guests are leaving with bottles of this and that health supplements, a few herbal teas, some protein bars, and that overpriced bracelet that claims to have energy. What’s in store for the Azkals now? Probably, when not in intensive vigorous training, they will continue to embody idyllic forms of what we all want, or want to be—healthy, fit and damn sexy.
MANILA, Philippines – Philippine Azkals strikers Rob Gier, Anton del Rosario, Simon Greatwich, Nate Burkey and Misagh Bahadoran have no interest in joining show business for now.
In an interview by “Showbiz News Ngayon” taped July 30 after they appeared on “Happy Yipee Yehey” and aired Aug. 2, Gier said, “I'm just enjoying and concentrating on being Azkals at the moment.”
Bahadoran echoed Gier’s sentiment by simply saying, “I just wanna be [an] Azkals player.”
For his part, Greatwich reasoned, “I'm really quite shy and stuff so we're just trying to keep it low key.”
The five football players were in the noontime “Happy Yipee Yehey” last Saturday as contestants of the game, “Tanging Hinga Mo.”
Gier, who emerged the winner, described their guest stint as “a fun experience.” According to the “SNN” report, Gier became a worldwide trending topic on the microblogging site Twitter that day.
“I was really enjoyed by ‘Happy Yipee Yehey,’” Bahadoran expressed.
On the other hand, Burkey said, “It was a lot of fun. A bit disappointed with my performance, though, but it was fun!”
After competing against Sri Lanka and Kuwait in their unsuccessful bid at the 2014 World Cup qualifiers, the Azkals are on vacation and will resume training soon for their upcoming matches. In an interview, Philippine Football Federation (PFF) president Mariano “Nonong” Araneta Jr. said that in September, the Azkals would be competing in the four-team Long Teng Cup in Taiwan.
More, in October, the team will participate in the four-nation invitational competition hosted by the PFF and sponsored by Asia Brewery Inc.
Lastly, in November, the Azkals will compete in the men's football competition of the 26th Southeast Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang in Indonesia.
Thanking their supporters, Greatwich asked them in the same "SNN" interview to “Continue to cheer us on.”
Del Rosario expressed, “Thank you very much for all your support. We wouldn't be here without you guys. Keep on supporting.”
MANILA, Philippines – Philippine national football team manager Dan Palami said the Azkals are not getting any younger and will need to replenish their lineup for future competitions.
Palami, who appeared on ANC’s Hardball sports show, cited as an example the Azkals' first defensive unit.
“We have Ray Jonsson, who is about 32; we have Rob Gier, who is 30 years old; we have Aly [Borromeo], 28; and Anton [del Rosario] is 29. So we really need to replenish the back 4,” he said.
Although the team's veterans still have a lot of playing years ahead of them, Palami said the team needs younger footballers who will fill their boots.
More foreign-trained players
He added that while the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) is building up the country’s grassroots program, the team management is scouting more overseas-based players who can potentially help the Azkals in future tournaments.
“We are concurrently trying to get the interest of good players outside the Philippines and get them to play for us,” he said.
Palami admitted that it is too early for the Azkals to rely solely on local players.
“In fact when I started managing the team, the first thing I did was to look for locally based players,” he said.
“Unfortunately, our grassroots program had been dormant for a few decades so it will take a while before we get locals. [But] it will probably happen in 4 years,” added Palami.
Among the European-based players reportedly eyed by the team management is Alphonse Areola, an 18-year-old goalkeeper who currently plays for the Paris Saint-Germain football club in France.
There is no denying the immense pride that the Philippine Azkals have when they play for flag and country. Regardless of where they have grown up or come from, they are one in expressing their heartfelt desire to see the country’s success in international football, regardless of how people label them according to their heritage.
What most people don’t know is that many of the so-called Fil-foreign players only belatedly came to know about the national team of their motherland, and sought out the Philippine Football Federation, offering their services.
“When I found out about the Philippine national team, I sent them an e-mail, with my resume, if you will,” says 30-year old fullback Rob Gier, who was already an experienced pro in his early 20s. “Not to brag or anything, but I was playing at a good level in England, and would they be interested in having me? I actually wish I had found out when I was a spring chicken.”
“I didn’t even know the Philippines had a national team, to be honest,” admits United Football League All-Star Nate Burkey, who is now based in the Philippines and headed in the lone goal against Sri Lanka. “But when I heard about it, I wanted to play, no question. It was a good chance to follow my roots.”
For the Greatwich brothers, it was their grandmother’s funeral seven years ago that provided the impetus for the three brothers Cris, Phil and Simon to all join the Azkals in turn. Simon, the youngest of the three and part of the Philippine under-23 team, even takes public transportation to get around.
“It’s a great feeling to have all this support,” says midfielder Greatwich. “I think the fans in the Philippines are great, and they’re behind us, no matter what.”
One niggling little notion that the mixed-race players want to dispel is the feeling that they are “less Filipino” than their teammates who grew up in the country and labored in obscurity for years, or that there is a discrimination in the treatment between them. To a man, they are adamant about their identity.
“I don’t understand when people ask us how ‘Filipino’ we feel,” explains Gier, who is expecting his first child in five weeks. “The blood that runs through us runs through our “homegrown” teammates. Just because we were born in another place or grew up in a different country doesn’t make us less Filipino. We feel Filipino every second of our lives.”
After a two-week break, the work continues, as the Azkals prepare for two tournaments in the last quarter of the year. They will also play big brothers to a fired-up under-23 team, and gear up for a return bout in the Suzuki Cup and other major tournaments next year.
“I hope that in the future, we will be able to field a starting line-up that is half homegrown and half Fil-foreigners,” says TV commentator Bob Guerrero. “The seeds have been planted. This team has brought the game to a whole other level. They’re a great bunch of guys.”
Perhaps the most touching comment was made by Gier, who recalls the years when he started with the Azkals and “nobody cared” about the team. His statement carries a lot of weight considering the fact that he has tasted high-level soccer in Europe.
“It was an unbelievable feeling (against Kuwait) for the fans to be supporting us because of football, not because we were famous, or good-looking or anything,” Gier declares. “The goal against Singapore was my proudest moment as a footballer. But that was eclipsed when Schrocki (Stephan Schrock) scored that goal against Kuwait, for us to be going into the half up 1-nil – and we deserved to be up 1-nil – against a team that is ranked 70 places higher than us in the world is a tremendous achievement.”
MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Azkals will fly to Bahrain on Friday to begin their acclimatization process for their away game against Kuwait.
The Philippine team hopes that a few days training in Bahrain will help them get used to the scorching heat in Kuwait, where temperatures can go as high as 45 degrees Celsius.
The Azkals will have 2 friendly games in Bahrain, which is also among Asia’s football powerhouses.
“I'm excited, I've never been there,” said Azkals’ Nate Burkey. “I'm curious to see the country, what it would be like. Just ready to get focused on this game.”
The team’s conditioning coach already prepared things that they would need to help the Azkals get used to the heat in the Middle East.
“We're preparing icebags, sprays and sunglasses.... lahat,” said Joseph Malinay, the Philippine team’s conditioning coach.
Filipino-foreigners who were not present during the first phase of the Azkals’ training, like Neil Etheridge, Ray Jonsson and Rob Gier, will join the squad in Bahrain.
Azkals midfielder Jason de Jong is hopeful that they can pull off an upset even in hostile territory.
“You’ll never know. The ball's round... the last time we went to Suzuki Cup, they said we cannot beat Vietnam, but we beat them 2-0. So you never know,” he said.
The Azkals' away game versus the Kuwaiti Al-Azraq (The Blue) will take place at the Mohammed Al Hamad Stadium, Hawalli on July 23.
This will be followed by the home game at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila on July 28.
Kuwait is 102nd in the FIFA world rankings while the Philippines is 159th. – With a report from Dyan Castillejo, ABS-CBN News
