A few random thoughts after Dan's latest Cebu trip


DAN Palami flew over Cebu again, and, just like in previous visits, he's never alone, and he always got something interesting.

Last June, he was with the German goalkeeper coach and of course, that trip resulted to Cebu hosting the Nov. 15 friendly.

This time around? He's with Atty. Ed Gastanes and with a lot of good news. The biggest one of course is the greater than average chance of the Philippines hosting the finals of the AFC Challenge Cup.  Though everyone, it seems, sent a bid, the Philippines, after submitting its entry, got quite a spirited response from the AFC and our tropical climate could also be an advantage--the finals will be in March, 2014, the start of our summer season and for the other competing countries, their winter season.



Whoever hosts the Challenge Cup will be determined this November and the draw for the qualifiers has been postponed after the AFC selects the host because whoever wins the bid doesn't have to go through the qualifiers and automatically gets one of the eight finals slots.

"The schedule next year will really depend on the bid, if we win it, the friendlies will be in preparation for the 2014 Challenge Cup," Dan said.

Aside from, of course, earning Fifa points, next year--being a Southeast Asian Games year, the U23 team will also have their  share.

"We will also be finalizing who will handle the U23 team," he said.

Among the plans is to expand the Azkal pool to include the U23 players in their camp since a lot of senior team members are also eligible for the u23.

Other plans for next year is an African tour or friendlies against countries ranked between eighth and 15th in Asia.

"We won't be playing Japan, South Korea, Jordan or Australia yet, that’s for sure," Dan said. "But next year, we will try to get aggressive to earn Fifa points."

As for Cebu's role next year, depending on the success of the Nov. 15 friendly, we could have another one, or a tournament even.

By the way, for the Suzuki Cup, the team might be in a unique position and have four keepers in the 22-man lineup.  Two slots, of course are for Neil Etheridge and Roland Muller, who's being projected to play the first two games, while Neil gets the last game in the Group stage.  The other two are for Ed Sacapano and another, because if Neil and Roland can't make it, we need Ed and a substitute in case he gets injured.

In their mini-camp and friendlies in Manila, Dan said they picked Stallions and Green Archers for two reasons.

"The Koreans are really good with their passing game and we wanted to test that," he said, referring to the Stallions.

As for the Green Archers, well, for Tating Pasilan's fans, this could be taken as a nod on him. (Yep, I forgot to ask why Tating isn’t in the pool)

"We want to test our back four by going against really fast strikers," he said. 

By the way, for Azkals fans who are also Global FC fans, you should be at the Cebu City Sports Center for the Nov. 17 Sun.Star Cebu Football Cup opening.

Dan has committed that he's going to have five Azkals players from Global stay over, together with Ray Jonsson, Juani Guirado and Rob Gier.  There's a UFL Cup final on Nov. 19, so the other Azkals who play for the other UFL teams may have to leave after the friendly, but the Global Azkals will stay as guests for the Sun.Star Cebu Football Cup.

And at 4 p.m. on Nov. 17, there's going to be a friendly 9-a-side game between the CFA and the Azkals coaching staff.  There will be a dinner, hosted by Sun.Star Cebu, after the match but the dinner will be paid by the loser of the friendly.  Dan and CFA president Ricky Dakay shook on that promise.

There were a few other stuffs I learned from that dinner, but those will be for future Fair Plays.

Oh, by the way, I learned that we have 12 Fifa accredited referees based in the Philippines but they don't get to officiate in the UFL Division 1. 

Why?  Well, that's for the NCRFA to answer.

Another thing, plans are in motion for an AFF Super Cup, and the Philippines may get to send one club team for this.  For now, it could be the UFL champion or the winner in a face-off between the UFL champion and the PFF club championships.  This, by the way, are just plans.


Comments

Wiking said…
Once again more welcome news. Thanks Mike for writing about them and I also hope the Cebu friendly are a success. This will only mean one more facility where we can host, and be proud of fans support, in the Philippines!

Remember to ask about Mr Pasilan next time would ya :)
Unknown said…
The Philippines as of the moment is not qualified for any AFC club competition. First and foremost to qualify we must have a national league accredited and approved by AFC. The structure, rules and regulations of such league must meet the guidelines of AFC before they can be accredited and approved by AFC.

There is also a need for clubs to obtain a license for a club to be eligible to participate in any AFC club competition. There are several standards that have to be met in the ff criteria to be granted a license: Legal Criteria, Personnel and Administrative Criteria, Infrastructure Criteria, Sporting Criteria, and Financial Criteria.

Many clubs in the UFL have many foreigners which is also not in compliance with AFC rules. For the President Cup you are only allowed to have 2 foreigners in a minimum line-up of 18 and a max of 23 players.

Perhaps the AFF Super Cup will have less stringent rules for our clubs to participate.
Unknown said…
The Philippines as of the moment is not qualified for any AFC club competition. First and foremost to qualify we must have a national league accredited and approved by AFC. The structure, rules and regulations of such league must meet the guidelines of AFC before they can be accredited and approved by AFC.

There is also a need for clubs to obtain a license for a club to be eligible to participate in any AFC club competition. There are several standards that have to be met in the ff criteria to be granted a license: Legal Criteria, Personnel and Administrative Criteria, Infrastructure Criteria, Sporting Criteria, and Financial Criteria.

Many clubs in the UFL have many foreigners which is also not in compliance with AFC rules. For the President Cup you are only allowed to have 2 foreigners in a minimum line-up of 18 and a max of 23 players.

Perhaps the AFF Super Cup will have less stringent rules for our clubs to participate.

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