The failed U23 experiment
THE only positive thing that we can take in that loss against Timor Leste was that the U23 squad looked good in blue. And Ebong, too. The Blue-Haired fanatic whose voice we all heard on TV was fantastic.
The team? The result? To be perfectly blunt it was a scrappy game from a scrappy team that seemed to treat the SEAG as a vacation, or a chance to gain more Twitter followers. (Yey, I can tweet the team apology first!)
Going into the match, almost every fan who paid attention knew that we needed to win. Unfortunately, it seemed the players were operating on a different mindset.
I think it was only in the final 20 minutes that it dawned to the players that we had to win, coming up with a level of football unseen in the previous 70 minutes and in that 90 minutes against Vietnam.
And even that is damning.
We played better when starters like Matt and Mark Hartmann were off the field? Why are they even starting in the first place? You rarely see a captain getting subbed and for me, Matt getting replaced shows the coaching staff has no idea what they’re doing or who they should be fielding.
Is Coach Michael Weiss paying attention to our lapses? Does the rest of the coaching staff even voice out to coach Weiss what we need to adjust?
Whatever happens in the next few games, the Timor Leste match has showed that this U23 experiment is a big failure.
We can’t have a ragtag team train for less than two months and expect them to beat the opposition just because we have guys who’ve played in England, Germany, US or what-have-you.
And why was the training of the U-23 team ignored? Because the PFF and the management team were too busy with the Azkals and preparing for pa-pogi friendly games against Nepal and Victoria Beckham’s husband that they forgot we had a U-23 team?
And don’t tell me the team’s training wasn’t ignored. Dan Palami, Coach Michael Weiss and the rest of the coaching staff know they were under-prepared. And why do we have the same coaching staff for the U23 and the Azkals? These guys aren't supermen and can't be in two training sessions at the same time.
Haven’t they learned the lesson of 2005? When the management of that team, which started training in May of that SEAG year, longed for more time to train?
They answered that with a two-month training period?
Why?
I hope, too, the PFF learns the lesson of the Timor Leste fiasco, a loss the team so deserve.
Some writers call it an upset, but it wasn’t. It was far from one.
East Timor’s win is a product of a good grassroots program, while our SEAG stint, is beginning to look like a product of an NSA trying to bank on good-looking players.
While some were quick to dismiss East Timor as an easy team, I didn’t join that because while the Philippines, since 2010, has been looking for outside strength to power the squad, East Timor has been looking inside.
That’s strengthening the grassroots Dear PFF in case you’re paying attention.
In 2007, our senior squad beat East Timor by seven goals, but in the AFC U16 qualfiers in 2009—call it the Pre-Azkals time if you will—our Philippine team conceded 26 goals in five losses in Group E against Japan, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Chinese Taipei.
East Timor? That lowly team? Its U16 squad scored 22 goals while conceding none in Group F against China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Guam and Macau. East Timor finished second to China in the group to become just one of three Southeast Asian teams to make the final stages.
As for us?
We went home with our tails between our legs.
And we will in the future because despite the success of the Azkals and the popularity of football we have zero grassroots development, thanks to the guys at the PFF.
The PFF hasn’t taken one single concrete step to developing a grassroots program and it is such a disappointing turn from an administration who took over a previous failure.
"Way klaro ang PFF ron," a former national player said. And citing a former head coach of the national team, he said. "Way program PFF. Puro man pa-pogi ila."
I told a Philippine Management team official (not Dan Palami) back in July, “Bay, The PFF is not doing anything! There’s no grassroots program! We can’t rely on the Fil-foreigners forever. We have to develop our talents. But the PFF is not developing talents!”
He agreed to a few of what I said but I told him, “I won’t write that down, yet. I’m giving you guys a one-year honeymoon. After all the negative that has been written the past few years, Philippine football deserves a break. But we need a real grassroots program.”
And Timor Leste? That former minnows in Southeast Asian football? The guys—not minding if they channeled their inner Cristiano Ronaldo—showed how an honest-to-goodness-program will fair vis-a-visa rag-tag team.
Sure, the team did their best, sure they deserve our support.
But we are long past that moment when “at least they did their best” is enough.
Because it isn’t.
And this Under 23 team—and coaching staff--deserve to be told: You guys are not doing enough.
It’s as simple as that.
Comments
The PH team preparation is relatively a shot in the dark compared to a SEA power house Indonesia which employed a different coach for their Senior team - Wim Rijsbergen (Dutch)and U23 coach Rahmad Darmawan (Indonesian) comparatively common sense dictates that this is sound so that both teams will have direction and focus even if some players play in the senior team for a different coach.
I am currently based Jakarta, to tell you honestly its a footballing heaven - football is imbibe in their blood I can honestly say that we have a long-way to go. I have been with the PH football program through the PFF both as a player and a coach. I hope we can learn from our past mistakes, I believe that we can do it with patience and the right program properly supervised we can do it!
But I don't think it is about papogi. I think it is actually about the lack of planning efficiency. If they actually think that the coaching staff can handle two things at the same time and produce desirable results, then perhaps its time for them to wake up. Come on! Time is very essential and plays a huge role in developing a team's coherence which is needed to yield good results. I do hope they would learn from that.
The grassroots program is also another issue. PFF badly needs to develop this since the future of Philippine Football will fade if we will always rely on Fil-foreigners (as said in the article). Take Stephan Shrock as an example, he was an asset to the team yet he can't play that often since he has a commitment to his team in Germany. The main reason why they aren't always available is because of their commitments to their teams and the PFF can't afford to give them the same compensation that they receive in their teams (that's too expensive). We can't always say that we have a "Chieffy Caligdong". We don't know what would happen. What if Chieffy will be injured? What if the Younghusbands will transfer to other teams? What if the Fil-foreign players won't be available in an important game? There are tons of "what ifs" to consider and if one of these happens,PFF has no countermeasure since no "grassroots program" has ever been heard.
Please, don't let the efforts of Ebong and the rest of the Kaholeros, even the supporters and the players be wasted just because of this manyana habit. Now that football's prominence is developing all over the country, may the PFF take this into action.
We have a loooooooong way to go.
And I'm not racist--biased for football maybe.
But racist?
Never.
P.S.
Would you like a pill?
That part is vague. It should read:
"But we are long past that moment when 'at least they did their best' is enough for fans.
Yap, it's great that there's more awareness for the sport and all national teams, not just senior team.
I thought my cries would never be heard. Many times I had mentioned in many blogs and online publications my concern for PFF's lack of design for grassroots program. A beat down from an awful team like TLS had to happen first before a few would finally make some noises. Incidentally, as if on cue, a newsreport fm GMA tells of the PFF nursing a grassroots "footballilit" program apparently in the country somewhere else. I treat that bit of news with guarded optimism on account of lack of details. There are no pictures or testimonials or any feedback from a single participant whatsoever yet, but maybe, let's hope, that it is really a work in progress.
As for issues concerning recruitment of foreign-based players for the MAIN Azkals team, I never had any problems with it, on the contrary, I'm all for it. I think that the scheme employed in recruiting more experiences, more-skilled foreign based players is absolutely necessary for our football's attraction and sustainment. But that there should be another part of the house exclusively involved in responsibly BUILDING from our youth a decent program long-term wise, just like every other country in asia has been doing to date. It's not even an issue of 'fairness to our local homegrown kids', it's just the RIGHT THING TO DO. This football resurgent is, after all, what these are all about in the first place: opportunity. Our boys are denied this if no one sets the condition for them to grow, if there is no program set up that would norture youth development so that one day they too would have the chance to take their game to higher levels. The current, let me just use this term and I hate it, 'debacle' in the SEAG, basically had the local homeheads forfeit the rare opportunity of utilizing the SEAG platform for their own advancements. Who cares if they would had lost? That would have planted a seed in them, a STEP, a reckoning point, for the future. Somewhere in the system is a bad engineer who miscalculates the capability of the homegrown footballer's potential. If once upon a time that was okay, this is not the case anymore today. What they don't realize is that these kids are hungry and they want to get in the mix. Golly, why deny them the experience? It's theirs from the get go!
I'm not taking away the good efforts of the Filipino players from abroad. They were called, they showed up, just like anyone would. Kudos to their efforts. But clearly we just learned the hard way the importance of ascertaining our priorities first before deciding to take to the arena. We just have to give our local boys a chance to compete. To say that there is not enough local homeheads in my own opinion is stupidity and unpatriotic.
As for the games, I can look the other way with Vietnam game, against ours that team had character and class. Against Timor, if we were awful, they were awful too; we just outawful'd them.
Even if say we had the scouting report on TLS internalized by our players (assuming somebody did their homework/did their job), we still would've had been handicapped on account of we didn't really have anybody upfront that could bully their back line into submission. The front put together had no tactical awareness, gave up easily, and pretty much did nothing or could not do anything to shake off TLS' defense. Maybe Valmayor at one point showed howitzer-like power on that foot, reacting, I hope, on instincts. Leonora made the TLS forwards recognize his presence by fighting for the ball every time. This one kid #7 that scored the lone goal could've been an exponent that would have carried other attacks but his technical skills fell short because for the most part he got too busy occupying spots vacated by others, pretty much just like Ott's experience there. Manny Ott tried to dictate rhythm fm the start yet unnecessary errors by others made him into a damage control guy on the pitch, a job that took a lot out of him.
At any rate, my thing is this, that Weiss and his coaching staff did not do what they're supposed to do: THEY DID NOT DO THEIR JOB. His job description and the rest of his mates is to MANAGE and COACH and they're getting paid to do it. There are others that say they don't owe us the fans anything. Wrong! Oh they owe it to the fans big style! The fans deserve a better performance each time the team takes to the pitch. 110% conviction to win, no excuses. What good a coach are you if you don't have the conviction to win each time? Let your players not have confidence once in a while but not you in your capacity as coach. He'll you're suppose to put lightning bolts in your players' rears. Create, keep things together, inspire, drive, build...win, or at least play like winners. You failed in all counts!
Now instead of the Filipino football masses rejoicing about the games, anticipating like possessed lot anxious for the next game, there's nothing but loads of hearts broken. We don't deserve this.
Btw, whatever happened to Kasibulan 6-12? I still have my mini soccer ball from that program somewhere in the attic. Hehe.
Read the article again, did I say we just had a "pa-pogi team?"
That we don'have a grassroots program isn't a well-known fact. And I only said that now because the U23 team lost--I don't point that out every time the Azkals lose, I am no johnny-come-lately.
I don't expect our U23 team to perform well so soon after the Azkal success. I simply expect them to perform.
Typing away just to satisfy my ego? Heck, typing away is my job. And if I only wanted to satisfy my ego, I would have told Dan to pay me everytime they use the word "Azkal" because it was I who first suggested that nickname for the team.
I played football.
Pleased with myself? Heck, I wasnt happy that I have to write this article.
A talangka? Why? is criticizing the team now crab-mentality? Is the team so untouacable that they can't be criticized?
Talangka? Read my former posts dude.
Now you know why I've always held back in criticizing Philippine.
This article, though strong, was nowhere near as strong-worded in my previous articles against Philippine football.
I have no problems in fielding in the Pinoys based abroad, but we have to do something at the homefront, too.
mr chriscork, listen to you. you are so full of it. played in the under16 in the 90s, well good for you. you've been in this game forever and you still don't get it. somebody actually wants to do something about what most if us never had and you want it stopped. thats a shame coming from a veteran. its people like you who "pretends" things are ok that's gonna prevent our football ftom going in the right direction. you and i in our time and those generations that that didnt do things to right the wrong are the true talangka!
“Infancy stage”. Who’s infancy stage are we referring to here? The disposition of the U23 team in the SEAG certainly could not be what you are referring to here as the infancy stage. Infancy stage is where one starts to develop a unique feature and personality. Of being soaked in enriched environment, football exposure obviously, of being stimulated to grow to a particular direction, of exploring
Perhaps it is time for the PFF to humble themselves, and take a very long, hard, look a how the Timor-Lechians did their program. It is way more successful than ours.
I'm happy to see that someone else had the same thoughts as I did. Posts like these are needed to give a wake up call to those who are both in the Azkals team management and the PFF.
To all other people who are commenting:
I suggest you reread Mike's post over and over again. This is the kind of criticism that I can call 'valid'. So before accuse him of 'crab mentality' and throw issues in like 'racism', comprehend first.
There are other guys who comment stuffs that are more 'talangka' thinking than this wonderful post.
Think before you click guys. Mike is right, the Azkals are not 'untouchable', so they too, can be criticized (in the right manner, though).
Amidst the losses, I still support the PHI team. I'm actually quite excited to see the u23 field in our home grown players. Again, I agree with Mike when he pointed out that the team played better when some of the starting XI like the Hartmann's were subbed off. It was a very good sight to see during the latter parts of PHI vs TLS when they started to display their true potentials.
I know we are all disappointed but I still see a bright future for us. This is not yet our time, we do need a good grassroots program, it all boils down to that.
in perspective regarding the grassroots, we cannot say it is the culprit in this campaign because we all know since 2006 its none existence, and this things clearly manifested in our past aff/afc appearances with both u13/14 u16 and u19, so if we are looking for some one to blame i guess you all know who your looking for... bu the management and he coaching staff knew this and that is why the team heavily relayed on filipno players based abroad for the team, in doing so also weiss has overlooked some capable local talents like gery barbaso who i believe could had been influential in the back four.
For the hartmans probably nomads could offer them other sports to which their abilities could be in better use, why not try rugby? please and when you do try it please take your brother to do commentating also.
Whether you agree with me or not, what is important is that we learn to argue about football without getting below the belt or resorting to insults.
Thanks
I've focused on the positive in all previous losses that I'm getting accused of being a team apologist.
After last Monday's loss, the team, for me, doesn't deserved to be told "you're doing a good job." They deserve the hard truth--we ain't happy.
Sure they feel bad, but if they can't handle the pressure, then, perhaps they should have thought of that first before signing up for the team.
Yes, I am the Monday quarterback, but if the team/coaching staff, will only listen to articles from those who've played the international game then they better start subscribing to papers/magazines from England.
Finally someone who can talk some sense! Your article took the words right out of my mouth, bless you for speaking the truth. Honeymoon phase is over and given the individual talents of our players, there is just little or no room for excuse anymore. Honestly I feel disappointed in our coaching staff. I almost feel like the players and their "lack" of cohesion is not truly the issue anymore. Whatever the constraints may be this time around, a committed athlete will always produce the most remarkable and unexpected result especially when they know what is on the line. And that's what we've seen with the calibre of our Azkals. Right now, it's not only our junior Azkals that need to step up but the coaching staff needs to man up as well.
Disappointed as I am though, I will continue supporting not just the Azkals but Philippine football in general, because that is what a true fan does. Yes, we may call out the team particularly when we feel they've made questionable plays on the field but that does not mean we're turning our backs completely on them. Some fans just can't stomach the fact that the players and the coaching staff will naturally commit mistakes. As a result, they be come so defensive when such things are brought in discussion and label dissenters as "haters" or even "crabs". And that is why I find your write-up a breath of fresh air.
Now that football in the country is progressing, I hope the mentality of "fans" and other sports "journalists" can follow suit. As an emerging footballing nation, there are a lot of maturity stages we have to go through and those aren't necessarily pretty.
Say for example Qatar, which now boast a spectacular grassroots program that aims to produce a competitive team when they host the Wold Cup in 2022 and they spend so much for it. But then they have oil and natural gas.
But also the thing is, not all grassroots program works. See the dynamic grassroots program of United States but still always come short of expectations through the years. Because most probably, another criteria for a grassroots program to be effective is "the nation must actually play the sport."
You see, we have the best boxer in the world, the 4th best basketball team in Asia and the world number 1 cue artist not because we have an effective grassroots program, but because Filipinos actually play those sports.And more importantly, they see this sport as a way out of poverty (that is why we have so much aspiring showbiz personalities as well).
And this is where the tragedy lies. Football is still seen as a glamor sport in this country, played mostly by the elite and middle class. I guess, because it is still being played(at least in Manila) in exclusive subdivisions(w/ football pitches) and most pays a fee just to be able to play it (summer clinics etc).
So that leaves PFF with not much options. With no funds, no infrastructure, they have to rely on popularity of the sport solely thus relying on a flawed system of mixing locals and Fil-For (which you irresponsibly labeled as mga papogi) to represent the squad.
This is perhaps to sustain the interest on football (so being pogi really helps in a way) and hope that football really sips into the consciousness of majority of Filipinos until one day a kid dreams to really play football.
Is U23 a failed experiment? Well they've lost to Vietnam & Timor Leste.
Do we need to change direction outright, drastically getting rid of services of Fil-Foreigners who affects team's cohesion? No and definitely not. And don't get me started about the benefits Fil-fors bring.
That is why we are probably experimenting. Given that we don't have a proper grassroots program and won't be able to afford one anytime soon, we can only make do with what we have - sporadic local talent and lots of Fil-Fors. And I think we can think of a more creative way of getting results than just kicking the Fil-Fors out.
It might have slipped your thoughts Mike that the exposure you are demanding for the locals, they are actually getting from playing with their more polished Fil-for counterparts. Maybe I'm wrong.
But to say that Timor Leste win is a product of a strong grassroots program is disingenuous when their squad right now is composed as well of players coming from abroad.
It's time to wake up Mike to the realities of Philippine society. We have to work with what we have rather than frustrate ourselves with our wishful thinking- unless of course you have natural gas and oil sitting in your backyard. Cheers!
Say for example Qatar, which now boast a spectacular grassroots program that aims to produce a competitive team when they host the wold cup in 2022 and they spend so much for it. But then they have oil and natural gas.
But also the thing is, not all grassroots program works. See the dynamic grassroots program of United States but still always come short of expectations through the years. Because most probably, another criteria for a grassroots program to be effective is "the nation must actually play the sport."
You see, we have the best boxer in the world, the 4th best basketball team in Asia and the world number 1 cue artist not because we have an effective grassroots program, but because Filipinos actually play those sports.And more importantly, they see this sport as a way out of poverty (that is why we have so much aspiring showbiz personalities as well).
And this is where the tragedy lies. Football is still seen as a glamour sport in this country, played mostly by the elite and middle class. I guess, because it is still being played(at least in Manila) in exclusive subdivisions(w/ football pitches) and most pays a fee just to be able to play it (summer clinics etc).
So that leaves PFF with not much options. With no funds, no infrastructure, they have to rely on popularity of the sport solely thus relying on a flawed system of mixing locals and Fil-For (which you irresponsibly labeled as mga papogi) to represent the squad.
This is perhaps to sustain the interest on football (so being pogi really helps in a way) and hope that football really sips into the consciousness of majority of Filipinos until one day a kid dreams to really play football.
Is U23 a failed experiment? Well they've lost to Vietnam & Timor Leste.
Do we have now to change direction outright, drastically getting rid of services of Fil-Foreigners who affects team's cohesion? No and definitely not. And don't get me started about the benefits Fil-fors bring.
That is why we are probably experimenting. Given that we don't have a proper grassroots program and won't be able to afford one anytime soon, we can only make do with what we have - sporadic local talent and lots of Fil-Fors. And I think we can think of a more creative way of getting results than just kicking the Fil-Fors out.
It might have slipped your thoughts Mike that the exposure you are demanding for the locals, they are actually getting from playing with their more polished Fil-for counterparts. Maybe I'm wrong.
But to say that Timor Leste win is a product of a strong grassroots program is disingenuous when their squad right now is composed as well of players coming from abroad.
It's time to wake up Mike to the realities of Philippine society. We have to work with what we have rather than frustrate ourselves with our wishful thinking- unless of course you have natural gas and oil sitting in your backyard. Cheers!
I have nothing against the Pinoys based abroad and changing course after two games isn't probably the best move. What I pointed out was we could have done better in preparing this SEAG squad.
P.S.
I didn't call the Filipino-Foreigners pa-pogi, it was the friendly that I called pa-pogi to highlight a point that the training was overlooked. In hindsight, not the best choice of word.
You present your ideas, thoughts very well. I'll buy you a few drinks if we meet so we can all explore all these talks.
Cheers.
Like you, whatever happens in the SEAG, I will always support Philippine football.
We all want to believe things have changed in the PFF. It’s under new management. Weather the new management have utilized a different approach to address mistakes done in the past, or are better prepared for the future than the previous ones, we don’t really know. Clearly when it comes to popularizing the game in our country they have indeed done a remarkable job. LA Galaxy with Becks and Donovan in December, whoa, if that doesn’t intensify more cravings among football fanatics and would-be football fanatics, I don’t know what else will. But when one takes the time to examine the past year’s journey of our football, it’s not hard to see that our PFF gods had failed to develop a system, particularly an efficient strategic approach to the growing football competition in Asia. Notice the word “efficient” and not mere “effective”. Recruitment of Filipinos living abroad is effective, but NOT efficient. Fielding Filipino foreign-based players with more experience than our local home-based players on the pitch is effective, but NOT efficient. Composing on the fly a motley of players from different points who barely had the chance to get to know each other or bond into what is fundamentally known as TEAM for a shot at major competition for flag and all that good stuff is effective, but NEVER efficient.
So you ask, why are fans and followers pointing the fingers at PFF? They had it coming from day one of new management when nothing was immediately drawn out to drastically address this problem of grassroots. Will we accept “it’s not that easy” as an excuse? No. Is it a complex thing to do? Yes, maybe. Is a creation of a blue-print for a grassroots football system for our youth so demanding it would take more than year to weave a general plan? Could be. Are there strong unseen forces preventing or influencing the creation of youth-system design? Ok, sure. Boy, have we got ourselves a long list of excuses?
Here’s a solution: ACTION! ACTION! ACTION! Put together a bunch of smart people and let them brainstorm a design. Task a study group to do a research on what other countries are doing with their football programs. Send people out there to look into these programs and copy/paste these programs into ours, then later adopt changes and make it our own. Liaise with football federations of other nations; send people to the moon, if that’s necessary. Find an attainable standard model that is flexible and more applicable to our needs. Turn that model inside out, decapitate it, break it apart, then put it back together. Develop. But more importantly, START the first step. Do something!
Funding is a problem, you’d say. Of course. Classic. You’ll find a way PFF. You are already spending money. Effectively or efficiently? Neither, nor. 90% of that money should be grassroots or youth development program, the others can fight for the 10%.
I'm don't bash for the sake of bashing. Even pre-Suzuki Cup 2010, in al my criticisms of the PFF, when I wrote that Mari Martinez should step down, I never hid behind an identity.
To Mr. Anonymous, I understand how you can say that these criticisms are too early (fact is, it has been my practice not to criticize team selection/preparation when a tournament is ongoing) But I felt I hado.
To Mr. anonymous (the one commenting about Coach McMenemy). Yep, he isn't coming back, besides, what many tend to overlook is that he repead the benefits of Des Bulpin's system.
I regret that "pa-pogi" term, it looked good when I was typing it. Now, it has been misinterpreted.
To Codec: Thanks bay! And I agree, we may be disappointed but the future is bright, 100x brighter than it was just a year ago.
To Chriscorn. Let's no go there, being literal won't get us anywhere. Yes, I like to think I have some pull with Mr. Palami, but I don't like to use it. These days, the only way I "use" it is when I have something to say and he obliges me by listening or reading what I have to say. And he has with this article.
To Craig Burrows: Thanks for the assist Craig, as always, Azkalitis has no cure. This is but one of the symptoms.
And to SanDugo and MD,
You guys are one of a kind. Often I've seen in football meetings, boardroom meetings folk who can see eye-to-eye or get personal because they can't agree on something.
Learning to talk about contrasting points--and learning to listen--is what makes for a good organization.
To the guys,gals or guy/gal who have called me talangka, racist for writing this.
I've written about Philippine football and about the senior and SEAG teams since 2000. I've painted a damning picture of Philippine football in 2010, even cursing it in 2006, and even choosing to boycott writing about Philippine footie for the better part of 2009-2010.
In the previous losses, when the senior team took a lot of bashing, I looked the otherway and focused on the positives. I even picked a fight with a few colleagues when they were nit-picking against the team.
Do you know what hurts? Not the name-calling, I've learned that it goes around in this business. What hurts is that I had to write this.
Thank you all for dropping by.
This Friday, let's forget our disagreements for once and cheer for our boys.
Last year's Suzuki Cup really changed it. I still remember it. The upset win, the front page, the regular mention in the newscast.
And I firmly believe--whatever happens in the SEAG (we got three games left) Philippine football--not just the men's and U23 team--will improve. As to how they do it, well, it's going to be a wonderful topic.
If you played in the mid 90s internationally, we may have some common friends No I never suited up for the flag. (Wasn't good enough) But I know some who did.
Speaking of FB, some posts generate 2,000 comments! And the Azkal fan page has some 300,000 likes! People always say that the media played a key role in the renaissance. But I think the social networks, and the fan interaction, helped push mainstream media to cover football.
"See you" in Laos vs. Philippines.
That win was something!