Cebu Football

This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu for Oct. 1 and yes #abscbnfail   JUST like the last time we met, Dan Palami’s cell phone never stopped buzzing. “You have 483 unread messages,” his phone said and that was just at 9:35 p.m. And that’s just in one phone. “I don’t read them all,” he said, which also prove me I was right when I stopped bothering to contact him through his cell phone.

THE Cebu Queen City United has released its 25-man lineup for the UFL Cup next month. The team, which will be led by coaches Mario Ceniza, Alan Medalla, Hayato Ayabe and Dennis Peñalosa, features a mix of veteran players who played for the national Under 17 and senior teams in the past.

THANKS but no, thanks. Philippine national men’s football team manager Dan Palami shot down the idea of him replacing Nonong Araneta as the president of the Philippine Football Federation in the November elections. Palami said football in the Philippines hasn’t reached its full potential yet and running against Araneta would be a divisive exercise.

NEWLY-HIRED Global FC coach Graeme Mackinnon is excited to return to the Philippines and resume a role in Philippine football, this time as head coach of one of the top clubs in the United Football League (UFL). Mackinnon, who was hired by Dan Palami to take over Global FC, is expected to return next week to take charge of the team’s campaign when it defends its UFL CUp title.

SOMEBODY pointed out an intriguing point regarding the Azkals friendlies against Singapore, Nepal and the Long Teng Cup campaign in the next couple of weeks. We basically have two different squads—one for the friendlies and one for the Taiwan campaign—where the Azkals finished third of four teams last year. The point basically is, coach Michael Weiss must deliver in Taiwan and must bring home the Cup.

This is my story for Sun.Star Cebu on Sept. 28. FORMER Cebu-based football guru Graeme Mackinnon is back in Philippine football but his return may result to some mixed-feelings for Cebu football fans. The already intriguing match-up between DanPalami’s Global FC and Cebu Queen City United just got a bit more intriguing after Palami confirmed that he hired Mackinnon as his head coach. Global FC and Cebu Queen City United is in Group C of the UFL Cup together with Pachanga and the Iloilo Stallions.

This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu on Sept. 26 WHILE I laud the goals of the folks behind the Road Revolution, I don’t think closing a major thoroughfare is helping their cause. Sure, they freed up one road, but did that encourage the use of bikes? Did that encourage the people to walk, run or were they forced to do so because of the absence of vehicles? And based on the long faces of the drivers, commuters and pedestrians who got hassled by the closure, I don’t think these folks will be inviting the guys behind Road Revolution into their homes for coffee, soon.

This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu on Sept. 24.  ONE guy commented on my blog that Cebu Queen City United should get Roy Jonsson once the Cebuano’s contract in his Iceland team expires. However, I don’t think the Liloan born player would be suiting up for a Cebu team in the UFL as I learned that though he’s still playing in Iceland, he has verbally committed with Global FC.

THERE’S an interesting Twitter exchange the other day, and no it wasn’t about the anti-planking act of 2011. It was between Kaya FC’s Santi Araneta, also the chairman of Football Alliance, the group behind the United Football League, and Dan Palami, who according to his own words is, coach, water boy and pep squad of Global FC.

This is my Sept. 19 Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu  YEP, the United Football League (UFL) loves the Visayas fans so much they decided to put up a Visayas Division for the UFL Cup. It’s either that or the football gods have quite a sense of humor. I mean, how would you explain the draw for the UFL Cup? Of the four Visayas teams in the 28-team field, all of them got picked, by four different folks, to be in one four-team bracket in Group C? Global FC (Dan Palami of Leyte), Pachanga (which will have Bacolod players and will be led by Norman Fegidero), Stallions FC (of Nonong Araneta of Iloilo) got picked one after the other in Group C?

CEBU QUEEN City United FC will undergo a baptism of fire after getting a tough group during the draw for the UFL Cup yesterday in Manila. Cebu QC United, which will make its debut in the country’s premier football competition next month, is in Group C together with defending UFL Cup champion Global FC, Pachanga and Stallions. Global, Pachanga and Stallions also made the semifinals of the PFF Smart Club Championships, which was won by Global FC. “This is really a baptism of fire,” Cebu QC United coach Mario Ceniza said. “Of the four teams, kita lang ang kulang in terms of exposure.”

This is my Fair Play column for Sept. 17, written before that darn draw in the UFL Cup . NOT a few football fans were giddy when the news broke out that Cebu, finally, will have a team in the United Football League—the country’s premier football competition. Araceli Socorro Estoso, the Blue-Haired Fanatic’s right hand woman,  spent a few minutes pondering whether to cheer for her alma mater or for a team showcasing her roots.

This is the longer version of the report that will come out on Sun.Star Cebu on Sept. 16. THE country’s premier league—United Football League (UFL)—just got bigger. Cebuano football fans will now have something to look forward to in the UFL with the entry of the Cebu Queen City United in the UFL Cup, which will start on Oct. 8 at the Rizal Memorial Stadium and the University of Makati. Raffy Musni, the team coordinator of the Cebu Amateur Football Club (CAFC), will fly to Manila today to attend the manager’s meeting and for the draw of the UFL Cup, which has attracted 28 teams so far.

This is my Sun.Star Cebu column on Sept. 15, 2011 IN a news item last week, Coach Michael Weiss blasted unnamed players for missing practice and said they shouldn’t slacken in their preparation for the Long Teng Cup next month. He also took quite a dig by adding, “I’ve seen players more on billboards coming from Alabang to the training. I see them on billboards more often than on the pitch.”

IT’S THAT time again, time to show up with your country’s colors on your shirts, bags, faces, or bodies even. It’s Davis Cup time! It’s the Philippines vs. Taiwan, this weekend in Lapu-Lapu City.

This  is my Sun.Star Cebu column for Sept. 10, PLEASE DO NOT POST this article in your websites before Sept. 11. Thanks.---Mike UNITED Football League clubs like Kaya FC, Loyola Sparks and Global may seem to have all the advantages as it’s been heavily recruiting Azkal players for the new season lately, but even if they all field an all-Azkal lineup, do you know what these clubs will never have? A regional identity and of course, a regional support.

GRAEME Mackinnon, who is quietly recuperating from a knee surgery back Down Under fired an e-mail recently to react to Go Teng Kok’s expulsion from the Philippine Olympic Committee and the track chief’s getting declared persona non grata. I really don’t know much of GTK; what I do know is that he’s been the Philippine Track and Field Association chief before diapers were invented and that at one point or another, also became president of the chess, basketball and even karatedo NSAs.

So, where does Cebu stand nationally in club football? Would you want to find out? I know I would. I’d like to know if we’d gather Cebu best footballers in one club, let them face off with Manila’s best—the UFL even—could we match them?

BACK on Nov. 15, 2003, a bunch of guys and I crowded a tiny television , making do with a bad signal, just to catch this unknown Pinoy boxer face off with a Mexican legend at the Alamodome. It was also about the same time that an enterprising webmaster decided to put up a website in that boxer’s name, to consolidate news, updates about the boxer and to gather all the boxing fans in one site.

This one is not about football, but this is a very interesting story of how one family's passion--despite the circumstances--had led them to organize the Philippines longest-running table tennis event without much fanfare. For original story, click here NOBODY knew that a young man’s dream shattered by a heinous crime will go on to become the biggest and longest-running table tennis competition in the country. The Erne Jawad Cup celebrated its 20th year in existence with hundreds of participants from all over, including the country’s top players.

WHEN I saw the schedule for the volleyball games of the Cesafi, I was a bit shocked. I’ve never seen an “uglier” schedule, ever. The games are held every day for almost two weeks that it seems the organizers want the Cesafi games to be done and over with so they can concentrate on bigger things to fry.