Friendly's success will hinge on fans in Cebu

CEBU Football Association president Ricky Dakay said the other week that if they are successful in hosting the Nov. 15 match, they would like to host another friendly.

And that's something the Philippine Football Federation and Dan Palami are willing to give.

But "successful" is relative here.  The CFA can do everything right, they can roll out the red carpet and more, they can  even replace the grass with the most expensive artificial turf but that won't be how the game would be judged as successful.



The barometer for success will be how loud the fans would be during the game, and it won't even be the score line itself. It may not be fair for the CFA but that's the way it is.  When fans from the rest of the country and abroad tune in for the match, they won't care if the CFA has worked hard for the past several months, all they'd care about is if the stadium is packed and fans can be heard.

The fans in the Nov. 15 game will, literally, have a say whether Cebu gets to host another friendly so the role of the 30 or so  Cebu Kaholeros, who have been practicing diligently for the past four weeks, is crucial.  The 30, which is expected to grow to as much as 100, for the match, will take the lead for 6,000 fans.

I've heard some of their chants and I like them, as they've put a Cebuano touch on most of them.

So, I hope the fans in the game will let the PFF hear how we want more games in Cebu.

By the way, for the game, the PFF will be getting P1.2 million from ABS-CBN as part of their four-year multi-million peso deal signed early this year.

"Sixty percent goes to team management for the players' allowances, travel fare, accomodation, while the rest goes to the PFF," Dan Palami said.

Dan admitted that during their US camp, there was that game which they lost, 3-0, that in hindsight, shouldn't have been televised but was shown anyway because they needed the money.

"We only get money if games are televised," he said.   

Dan added though that after the loss, they had two more games where the team played a whole lot better and wasn't televised.  

Those two games were the start of an improved play and conditioning from the Azkals and they ran the other team off with their pace.

For the Cebu friendly, that 60 percent could perhaps, go to the dinner after the Nov. 17 friendly match between the Azkals coaching staff and members of the Cebu Football Association Board of Directors, a nine-a-side contest with 30-minute halves.

During another dinner---it always over dinner where things like friendlies are planned when Dan is around—I told them that Sun.Star Cebu wanted to host a dinner for the team members who will be staying over for our football festival, but they put another twist on it.

Whoever loses in the 4 p.m. match at the CCSC pays for the sumptuous dinner.

By the way, there’s no charge for our football festival, so if you want to catch the action, just go to the CCSC.  And of course, if you want to see glimpses of how good the guys behind the Philippine national team were in the past, stay over for the 4 p.m. match.

The CFA is already at a disadvantage for the game as they only have nine members of the board, and the president is injured, so, to level the playing field, we may tweak the eligibility rules so the non-board members of CFA play.  It is, after all, a friendly match in Cebu organized by a Cebu company.

Aside from Dan and Coach Michael Weiss, the Blue-Haired fanatic will be playing for the coaching staff, along with strength and conditioning coach Josef Malinay, as for the CFA side, well, there might be a couple of surprises. (By the way, I’m not playing.)