Cebu Football

FOR those who missed the live telecast of the UFL matches last Tuesday, you sure missed a great moment in Philippine football--our very own Championship Tuesday. No, it was no Game 7 or a knockout match, which is what most Pinoy fans think a championship day is, it was the Kaya vs. Stallions and Global vs. Loyola matches in the UFL.

“WHAT we really need," the coach said. "Is development for players 14 up, because at 14 or younger, our best players are just about the same level with the rest of Asia." This was a conversation I had with a coach, while talking about yet another game where our U19--or was it the U16?--got hammered from pillar to post in an international tournament.

EVER since I read about the PFF’s plan to compensate European clubs for the services of their players who play for the Philippine national team, I’ve wanted to get Dan Palami’s take on it. The plan, I think, is iffy at best and would be a waste of money that would have been best suited to, say, development of local referees?

(Here's the draft of my report for Sun.Star Cebu on June 24) THE race for the United Football League title is now reduced to two teams after Global FC's emphatic 4-0 win over the Philippine Air Force yesterday. THe win puts Global back on top with 41 points, two points ahead of Kaya FC.  The Loyola Meralco Sparks is third with 36 points and the Phil and James Younghusband led team was hoping for a draw between Air Force and Global--or even an Air Force win--to remain in contention.

LAST year, Football Alliance chairman Santi Araneta met with Cebu Amateur Football Club officials in a brief meeting that would change the face of Cebu football. Araneta, whose group runs the United Football League, was in Cebu to convince CAFC officials to join the league, the country's only play-for-pay football league. And with only a week to  go to meet the other club officials, come up with a lineup, logistical support and even a name for the Manila tournament, the men had to decide quickly.

IF you were surprised with the disclaimer I had on the Azkals vs. Thailand report the other day, please don't.   I had to do that because it was a report--and I no longer write that many reports--for my paper that was yet to be filed, and I've always told my staff not to reveal in social media, what you are about to write. (In my defense, though, two writers from another paper were present in the meeting, so it wasn't much of a secret already). So, what's my take on sharing? This is the Internet, and anything goes actually, but here's my requests. If you "copy-paste" my articles, please acknowledge the source with a link.  Or even, better, do it the way Pinoygreats.com does it, by just posting the first few paragraphs and the link.  Coming up with an original story is a whole lot harder than copy-pasting stories. Exceptions, of course, for www.pinoyfootball.com, they have my permission to post entire article since the site started.  Ditto with all ...

(This is the draft of my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu on June 22.) “THIS is how we do business. We talk about it and we will make it happen,” Dan Palami told me during his dinner with officers of the Cebu Football Association. I’ve always liked Dan’s visit to Cebu since he always has a lot of news, and he’s never alone. He's always with some footballing guy who's got a story to tell. This time, he was joined by a German goalkeeping coach whose name I forgot to take.  I wanted to talk to the coach but I got sidetracked, when Dan and CFA president Ricky Dakay started talking about holding Azkals friendlies in Cebu.

(This is the draft of my report for Sun.Star Cebu on June 22. PLEASE DON'T POST ARTICLE IN OTHER BLOG, WEBSITES BEFORE JUNE 23) "SO, shall we do it?" An informal dinner between Philippine men's national team manager Dan Palami and officers of the Cebu Football Association last Thursday night has led to a move that is sure to excite the Cebu football community--a planned friendly between the Philippine national team and Thailand, or another regional power, on Nov. 15 at the Cebu City Sports Center.

THREE points. That's what separates the top three teams in the UFL--Global (38), Kaya (36) and Loyola (35) and all three have a chance to win the title, with Global as the comfortbale leader. For Global to win the UFL, it has to earn at least four points in each last two matches,  because if Kaya wins their last two matches, both teams will be tied at 42, with global  a healthy 17 goals ahead on goal difference.

NOW that they are recognized by the PFF, CFA officers led by Ricky Dakay and fellow sportswriters Nimrod Quinones and Rico Navarro the blessing to do their job. It is interesting, too, to finally read the protest filed against the CFA because, well, it kind of shows the hand behind all of these.  There were two protests, signed by representatives of Don Bosco Magone, mailed on April 21, and by representatives of Don Bosco Technological Center and the University of San Jose-Recoletos Alumni, signed on May 28.

The Philippine Football Federation has recognized the newly elected board members of the Cebu Football Association, three  months after their elections. In a letter to the CFa by PFF secretary general Atty. Roland Tulay, the PFF said the recognition of the officers is "without prejudice  to the resolution of the letter-protests on the results of the election."

(This is the draft of my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu on June 17) THERE was a time in Cebu football, when the Aboitiz Cup was the only thing that mattered and all the rest played second  fiddle. That is no longer true as it has become one of the casualties of the clash of schedules of organizers in Cebu football  and teams--forced to choose between a festival and the Aboitiz Cup prefer to join the two-day tourneys instead of Cebu's longest running football tournament.

(This is the draft of my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu on June 16) IT'S been three months since the Cebu Football Association held its elections and until now, we have no board recognized by the Philippine Football Federation. Three months! Twelve weeks! Ninety days! A lot can happen in three months, or, in this case, nothing does.

(This report by Cheska D. Geli was published in Sun.Star Cebu on June 15) OUTGOING Cebu Football Association President Richard Montayre stands firm that no turnover will happen unless the new board is recognized by the Philippine Football Federation (PFF). PFF suspended the recognition of the new set of officers because an election-related protest was filed against the new officers, led by president Ricky Dakay. The PFF did not name the complainant and PFF president Mariano Araneta said he doesn’t know who filed the complaint.

(This is the draft of my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu on June 14) Cebu Queen City's first stint in the United Football League will result to a third-place finish in Division 2 for the league's non-Manila based team. Considering the logistical nightmare it has to go through weekly, it's not bad for a team of part-time footballers based in the Queen City of the South.

(This is the draft of my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu on June 11) IT SEEMS some interesting things are still happening online because of that 2-2 draw against Indonesia at the Rizal Memorial Stadium last week, and one of the talking points is the criticisms the team got because it drew a match it was dominating. I really don’t agree with most of the criticisms because it was a friendly and we just drew Indonesia but I don’t agree, too, how the critics are being pictured as folks in high horses who heap added burden to the players with their unreasonable demands.

(This is the draft of my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu on June 9) SO the PFF has finally acted on the pending membership of the new CFA officers, more than two months after they got elected. Even if that action was to tell the gen-sec to tell the membership committee to work on it, well, that’s still an improvement to the non-action of the previous two months, isn’t it?

(This is the draft of my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu for June 5) THE recent Philippine National Games showed the Cebu City Sports Commission got it right when they decided to support local softball and beach volleyball by putting up a place where the kids play. Consider this—two Cebu City teams made the men’s finals, while our women won the silver, while our men’s softball team got the silver and the women’s won the gold.

SO, that was quite a game, wasn’t it!  The buzz was at an all-time high when the starting lineup was released and Neil Etheridge tweeted his disappointment. But I think I know where Coach Michael Weiss was coming from. Neil is still the no. 1 and has started in a home match—both friendly and in a qualifier—while Roland hasn’t.

(This is the draft of my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu on June 4) SO, tell me, who’s the legitimate new Cebu Football Association president?  Ricky Dakay? Wrong! Richard Montayre? Wrong! Who is it?

(This report by Cheska D. Geli came out in Sun.Star Cebu on June 3) THE newly-elected officers of the Cebu Football Association (CFA) will still have to wait before they officially start their term of office. An election protest was submitted to the Philippine Football Federation (PFF), forcing the national governing body for football to hold the recognition of the new set of officers.

(This is the draft of my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu) I FOUND veteran runner Joy Polloso’s statement that folks are getting bored with road runs that they are starting to join other activities really funny. Joy, who is now into ultra-marathons (yep, for extreme guys and girls like them, a 42K is just another long run), said during the press conference for Cebu Ultra-runners Club’s 100K—the first of three, mind you—“ If you may observe, dili na kaayo daghan ang mga running events compared in the previous years.”