Fair Play: Coming soon: Azkals in Asean Leagues
ONE fan posted in the Azkals fan page (one of many) a tweet by Phil Younghusband, who said he’d love to play in Jakarta.
The fan, fearing Phil would be donning Indonesia’s colors in the next tournaments, said the post made her frown.
It was the same error made by a reporter of a national TV station a few days back.
Relax, folks. There’s no need to panic. Phil’s not playing for Indonesia (and if he had even considered that, I know his brother would probably lynch him first.)
What Phil is considering is playing in the Indonesian League and if he gets to do so, Philippine football will benefit a lot.
Phil, Alexander Borromeo and Jason de Jong, according to a national daily, are just some of the players who got offers to play in (IN not FOR) Vietnam, Singapore and Indonesia and I’m crossing my fingers that they’d get to sign with a club.
We don’t have a domestic league and most of the local talents in the team are part-time footballers (That only shows how much they have sacrificed). Some are even enlisted men of the Armed Forces, since that is the only route for those footballers who want to continue playing once they graduate from college.
To be a professional footballer is a dream that, for quite some time, seemed impossible for Filipinos. What this present crop of players have done is not only to change the image of football in the country, but to show young kids that they have a future as footballer.
Getting to sign up any member of the Azkals could also be a wise marketing move for any club, whether it’s in the Indonesia, Vietnam or Singapore leagues, since they can have a country as an instant fan base.
Wow, I can just imagine the jersey sales!
REALITY CHECK. Anyway, for all the hoopla the men’s team is getting, nothing has changed in the state of Philippine football.
We don’t have national tournaments, a grassroots program. Heck, we don’t have any football-related nationwide program for that matter.
But I am hopeful for the new year because of what the Azkals have done and of the change in the PFF leadership.
I caught an interview of Nonong Araneta, the new president, on ANC a week ago and he mentioned three key points that all football fans want to hear:
1.) The revival of the national tournaments, 2.) the money the PFF receives from Fifa, AFC and AFF will go to where they’re supposed to go, and 3.) Fifa will conduct an audit on the PFF.
The national tournaments, especially the age group events, are where the coaching staff scouts players for the national teams.
And since Dan Palami has shown that an 11-month training program is a whole lot better than a rushed, two-week training camp, I hope the practice of sending ill-prepared youth teams to competitions will be stopped.
The president also mentioned planning to hold a U23 national tournament next year, to scout players for the Southeast Asian Games.
This is a good development for Cebu, since our Prisaa team, who bulldozed the competition in the regional meet lately, qualifies in this age bracket and gets to join the competition.
Araneta mentioned a fourth point that is music to Cebu football’s ears. The AFC Vision Asia Cebu project, derailed for months due to lack of funds (what else?), will be jumpstarted again.
According to Araneta, the Vision Asia project stopped because the funds for it always got stuck at the PFF.
Hmmm, another reason to love he-who-must-not-be-named.
I hope, too, the surge of the Azkals will teach the schools to be proud when their athletes get called for national duty.
If not for one teacher, a Cebu-based player of a local university would have been there with the Azkals.
That’s just sad, isn’t it?
The fan, fearing Phil would be donning Indonesia’s colors in the next tournaments, said the post made her frown.
It was the same error made by a reporter of a national TV station a few days back.
Relax, folks. There’s no need to panic. Phil’s not playing for Indonesia (and if he had even considered that, I know his brother would probably lynch him first.)
What Phil is considering is playing in the Indonesian League and if he gets to do so, Philippine football will benefit a lot.
Phil, Alexander Borromeo and Jason de Jong, according to a national daily, are just some of the players who got offers to play in (IN not FOR) Vietnam, Singapore and Indonesia and I’m crossing my fingers that they’d get to sign with a club.
We don’t have a domestic league and most of the local talents in the team are part-time footballers (That only shows how much they have sacrificed). Some are even enlisted men of the Armed Forces, since that is the only route for those footballers who want to continue playing once they graduate from college.
To be a professional footballer is a dream that, for quite some time, seemed impossible for Filipinos. What this present crop of players have done is not only to change the image of football in the country, but to show young kids that they have a future as footballer.
Getting to sign up any member of the Azkals could also be a wise marketing move for any club, whether it’s in the Indonesia, Vietnam or Singapore leagues, since they can have a country as an instant fan base.
Wow, I can just imagine the jersey sales!
REALITY CHECK. Anyway, for all the hoopla the men’s team is getting, nothing has changed in the state of Philippine football.
We don’t have national tournaments, a grassroots program. Heck, we don’t have any football-related nationwide program for that matter.
But I am hopeful for the new year because of what the Azkals have done and of the change in the PFF leadership.
I caught an interview of Nonong Araneta, the new president, on ANC a week ago and he mentioned three key points that all football fans want to hear:
1.) The revival of the national tournaments, 2.) the money the PFF receives from Fifa, AFC and AFF will go to where they’re supposed to go, and 3.) Fifa will conduct an audit on the PFF.
The national tournaments, especially the age group events, are where the coaching staff scouts players for the national teams.
And since Dan Palami has shown that an 11-month training program is a whole lot better than a rushed, two-week training camp, I hope the practice of sending ill-prepared youth teams to competitions will be stopped.
The president also mentioned planning to hold a U23 national tournament next year, to scout players for the Southeast Asian Games.
This is a good development for Cebu, since our Prisaa team, who bulldozed the competition in the regional meet lately, qualifies in this age bracket and gets to join the competition.
Araneta mentioned a fourth point that is music to Cebu football’s ears. The AFC Vision Asia Cebu project, derailed for months due to lack of funds (what else?), will be jumpstarted again.
According to Araneta, the Vision Asia project stopped because the funds for it always got stuck at the PFF.
Hmmm, another reason to love he-who-must-not-be-named.
I hope, too, the surge of the Azkals will teach the schools to be proud when their athletes get called for national duty.
If not for one teacher, a Cebu-based player of a local university would have been there with the Azkals.
That’s just sad, isn’t it?
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