Fair Play: More discussions on Philippine football
I HAVEN’T written anything non-football related for the past six weeks and that’s just fine by me.
Even the basketball columnists in the national dailies are writing football and they’re even going at each other’s necks.
Can you believe that?
For sure, most of you don’t agree with all that has been written about the Azkals or Philippine football, in these past few weeks, but that’s not what is important.
What is important is that despite not having played a game since the Dec. 19 loss to Indonesia, Philippine football is finally getting some attention.
There’s finally a national discussion on the sport and if you don’t agree with what have been said by the writers, you can always join in the fun.
This is what we need right now. A discussion on the sport’s future while the government, and sponsors are still thinking of pouring in money for the sport and while the PFF is still mapping out plans for the coming years.
What are you waiting for? Join in!
JUAN SPEAKS. One of the latest articles I found interesting is a Philippine Star interview of Juan Cutillas, the former PHL team coach who guided the team in the 2008 qualifiers.
While I agree with him that aiming for the 2014 World Cup is a shot in the dark, I don’t think we should forget about it, outright. That our more football-mad Asean neighbors never got past the first round doesn’t mean we shouldn’t join in the dream, does it?
We missed the qualifying for the 2006 and 2010 editions because the thinking was, “We’d just lose, anyway. What’s the point?”
The point is there not much action the Azkals see. The AFF Suzuki Cup comes every two years (even years), so does the Southeast Asian Games (odd years), so the team needs to join every tournament that is available out there.
And the World Cup qualifiers is one of that.
While I didn’t agree with that part of Cutillas interview, I fully back his proposal for the PFF to have a team of 20 to 25 young players of the right build who will be trained, provided everything and exposed to competitions abroad.
East Timor, the country we regularly rout, is doing that. The Timorese men’s team gets slaughtered, regularly, but their U16 team made the AFC Finals, one of three from Asean along with Indonesia and Vietnam.
Cutillas’ proposal mirrors that of the Smart Gilas, whose goal is the 2012 Olympics, and makes sense.
The Fil-Foreigners have all the advantage over local players because of their different football experience. What Cutillas plans to do is like having our best young talents experience that.
Of course, developing our local talent doesn’t mean we should stop getting the best Pinoy footballers in other parts of the world, nor does that practice mean we should stop developing local talent.
These two are not mutually exclusive. The Philippine team, to further excel, should have the best options available, foreign-based players and the best talents in the country.
Building a pool of select players is the best option for now since developing a competitive domestic league, the common source of national team members of other countries, takes time.
And where do you think the Philippines will find those talents?
According to Cutillas, “We should go to the Visayas where there are a lot of outstanding players and recruit the best prospects.”
Of course, some of these local prospects are bound to be with clubs or schools.
But here’s another favorite part of that Cutillas interview:
“I think schools and clubs shouldn’t stop their players from playing for the national team. It will stunt their growth. We should all be united for the country.”
Got that my fellow Carolinians?
Even the basketball columnists in the national dailies are writing football and they’re even going at each other’s necks.
Can you believe that?
For sure, most of you don’t agree with all that has been written about the Azkals or Philippine football, in these past few weeks, but that’s not what is important.
What is important is that despite not having played a game since the Dec. 19 loss to Indonesia, Philippine football is finally getting some attention.
There’s finally a national discussion on the sport and if you don’t agree with what have been said by the writers, you can always join in the fun.
This is what we need right now. A discussion on the sport’s future while the government, and sponsors are still thinking of pouring in money for the sport and while the PFF is still mapping out plans for the coming years.
What are you waiting for? Join in!
JUAN SPEAKS. One of the latest articles I found interesting is a Philippine Star interview of Juan Cutillas, the former PHL team coach who guided the team in the 2008 qualifiers.
While I agree with him that aiming for the 2014 World Cup is a shot in the dark, I don’t think we should forget about it, outright. That our more football-mad Asean neighbors never got past the first round doesn’t mean we shouldn’t join in the dream, does it?
We missed the qualifying for the 2006 and 2010 editions because the thinking was, “We’d just lose, anyway. What’s the point?”
The point is there not much action the Azkals see. The AFF Suzuki Cup comes every two years (even years), so does the Southeast Asian Games (odd years), so the team needs to join every tournament that is available out there.
And the World Cup qualifiers is one of that.
While I didn’t agree with that part of Cutillas interview, I fully back his proposal for the PFF to have a team of 20 to 25 young players of the right build who will be trained, provided everything and exposed to competitions abroad.
East Timor, the country we regularly rout, is doing that. The Timorese men’s team gets slaughtered, regularly, but their U16 team made the AFC Finals, one of three from Asean along with Indonesia and Vietnam.
Cutillas’ proposal mirrors that of the Smart Gilas, whose goal is the 2012 Olympics, and makes sense.
The Fil-Foreigners have all the advantage over local players because of their different football experience. What Cutillas plans to do is like having our best young talents experience that.
Of course, developing our local talent doesn’t mean we should stop getting the best Pinoy footballers in other parts of the world, nor does that practice mean we should stop developing local talent.
These two are not mutually exclusive. The Philippine team, to further excel, should have the best options available, foreign-based players and the best talents in the country.
Building a pool of select players is the best option for now since developing a competitive domestic league, the common source of national team members of other countries, takes time.
And where do you think the Philippines will find those talents?
According to Cutillas, “We should go to the Visayas where there are a lot of outstanding players and recruit the best prospects.”
Of course, some of these local prospects are bound to be with clubs or schools.
But here’s another favorite part of that Cutillas interview:
“I think schools and clubs shouldn’t stop their players from playing for the national team. It will stunt their growth. We should all be united for the country.”
Got that my fellow Carolinians?
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