Fair Play: Don't cross the street when Azkals play
I ALMOST got run over by a car last Thursday night.
It would have been a tragicomedy had I met an accident because my head wasn’t seeing what my eyes were seeing as I crossed the street.
Instead, I still had a silly grin on as I recalled that stunning last-minute goal by Chris Greatwitch in the AFF Suzuki Cup in Vietnam.
When I posted the schedule of the match in my Facebook page, a friend of mine, who is now based in the Lion City, summed it up best:
“Favored ang Singapore pero dili sila mag kumpyansa sa mga askal.”
On one end of the pitch was Singapore, the Lions, the three-time champion of Asean’s regional tournament. A team that blanked Laos, 4-0, in its tuneup match.
And there was the Philippines, the Azkals, a team that failed to qualify in the last tournament and only scored one point in 2006. A team that got routed by a club, 7-0, in its final tuneup match.
A mismatch?
It surely was.
But after 90 minutes and change, it was the Filipinos who were celebrating wildly, while the Lions were left to wonder what happened.
The match ended, 1-1, and the Philippines wasn’t just lucky to earn a draw. On the contrary, Singapore was lucky it didn’t lose!
From AFFsuzukicup.com:
“Aleksandar Duric looked like he had done enough to earn Singapore the win with his goal in the 65th minute but (Chris) Greatwich scored with one of the last kicks of the game to earn the Philippines a point their play throughout the 90 minutes had deserved.
Credit, too, should go to Neil Etheridge, the plucky goalkeeper who’s been named to the lineup of Fulham first team but hasn’t seen action in the Premier League, yet.
This team simply doesn’t give up.
They showed that in the Qualifiers, when they erased a 2-0 lead by Laos with another injury-time goal. They showed that in that game against Singapore last Thursday.
Of course, one game doesn’t a tournament make and the next assignment for the
Philippines is Vietnam, the defending champion which thrashed Myanmar, 7-1, also last Thursday.
The disparity of talent is obvious but with the way the Philippine team played against Singapore, heck, anything is possible.
Even a semifinal appearance.
Whatever happens in Sunday’s games (Vietnam vs. RP and Singapore vs. Myanmar), the Philippines, for the first time, has a shot for a semifinal spot in its final game against Myanmar.
Impossible? Well, it’s just as impossible as thinking the Philippines will hold Singapore to a draw, right?
I get ribbed a lot of times why I support Philippine football, when it is such a hopeless cause.
I rarely reply but here’s why. Philippine football is like the country. Those who work hard for its success do it, silently. Those who make the most noise, claiming to be its savior, only entrench themselves in power, all for the good of the country, while it suffers.
The country has, for years, relied on its army of foreign workers to save its economy.
For years now, Philippine football has become one of the unintended beneficiaries of the Diaspora.
Why do I support Philippine football?
Because not everything is hopeless, not everything is bad. You see it in the people, not the powers that be.
And sometimes, you get what you deserve.
Just be careful though, when you cross the street.
It would have been a tragicomedy had I met an accident because my head wasn’t seeing what my eyes were seeing as I crossed the street.
Instead, I still had a silly grin on as I recalled that stunning last-minute goal by Chris Greatwitch in the AFF Suzuki Cup in Vietnam.
When I posted the schedule of the match in my Facebook page, a friend of mine, who is now based in the Lion City, summed it up best:
“Favored ang Singapore pero dili sila mag kumpyansa sa mga askal.”
On one end of the pitch was Singapore, the Lions, the three-time champion of Asean’s regional tournament. A team that blanked Laos, 4-0, in its tuneup match.
And there was the Philippines, the Azkals, a team that failed to qualify in the last tournament and only scored one point in 2006. A team that got routed by a club, 7-0, in its final tuneup match.
A mismatch?
It surely was.
But after 90 minutes and change, it was the Filipinos who were celebrating wildly, while the Lions were left to wonder what happened.
The match ended, 1-1, and the Philippines wasn’t just lucky to earn a draw. On the contrary, Singapore was lucky it didn’t lose!
From AFFsuzukicup.com:
“Aleksandar Duric looked like he had done enough to earn Singapore the win with his goal in the 65th minute but (Chris) Greatwich scored with one of the last kicks of the game to earn the Philippines a point their play throughout the 90 minutes had deserved.
Credit, too, should go to Neil Etheridge, the plucky goalkeeper who’s been named to the lineup of Fulham first team but hasn’t seen action in the Premier League, yet.
This team simply doesn’t give up.
They showed that in the Qualifiers, when they erased a 2-0 lead by Laos with another injury-time goal. They showed that in that game against Singapore last Thursday.
Of course, one game doesn’t a tournament make and the next assignment for the
Philippines is Vietnam, the defending champion which thrashed Myanmar, 7-1, also last Thursday.
The disparity of talent is obvious but with the way the Philippine team played against Singapore, heck, anything is possible.
Even a semifinal appearance.
Whatever happens in Sunday’s games (Vietnam vs. RP and Singapore vs. Myanmar), the Philippines, for the first time, has a shot for a semifinal spot in its final game against Myanmar.
Impossible? Well, it’s just as impossible as thinking the Philippines will hold Singapore to a draw, right?
I get ribbed a lot of times why I support Philippine football, when it is such a hopeless cause.
I rarely reply but here’s why. Philippine football is like the country. Those who work hard for its success do it, silently. Those who make the most noise, claiming to be its savior, only entrench themselves in power, all for the good of the country, while it suffers.
The country has, for years, relied on its army of foreign workers to save its economy.
For years now, Philippine football has become one of the unintended beneficiaries of the Diaspora.
Why do I support Philippine football?
Because not everything is hopeless, not everything is bad. You see it in the people, not the powers that be.
And sometimes, you get what you deserve.
Just be careful though, when you cross the street.
Comments
It is because of people like you, albeit still a few but growing in numbers, who still believe that there is hope for filipino football, that i have taken up the cudgels to manage the team and take on the challenge of proving ourselves right.
it has been a lonely journey,but for the past 11 months we have seen our efforts bear fruit... FIFA ranking of 151 is at its highest ever, qualification to the final round of Suzuki Cup, and now drawing the heavily favored 3-time champs Singapore.
indeed, everything is possible... and we have to be careful in crossing the street.
Thanks to you and your unwavering support of the RP team, fans like us have something to cheer about. Tell the boys there that the fans are watching the games, live. The sport doesn't get as much publicity as the Manila papers (unlike ours and the provincial press, where we give it priority in the times that it deserves, but the fans pay attention.
Almost all my football buddies stopped texting when the game started, another one, who watched the game in Manila with the other youth coaches, sent a message, "It's not bad to be losing by just one goal...."
He sent it around the 89th minute. When Chris scored, he said the people there were screaming like crazy, as if we won the World Cup. Me and a colleague, were screaming like crazy too, in a very somber newsroom whose editors and reporters were busy mapping out the next day's issue.
I hope the Mizuno jersey is available for fans because I'm going to encourage every Pinoy football fan to start buying an RP team jersey this Christmas.
Your backing for Philippine football may seem a lonely journey but fret not. The fans know what you've done and you've done great things.
Please tell the team we are all behind them 100 percent! Philippine football is in such a fractured state, but when the RP team plays, those who can't even get together in one room, are together in supporting the team.
Go RP football!
But I don't mind. We have Dan Palami who's doing an MVP job for us.
That game against Vietnam will go done in history, not just in Philippine history, but in AFF history, as the biggest upset of all time.
And I saw it!
I truly, truly never expected to be able to see the day RP football score such significant win.
It's a pleasant surprise.
It's a wonderful time.
Now if we can only find a way to financially support Philippine Football without the usual politics, corruption and commercialization.