Cebu Football

I AM spending the holidays in my parents’ home in Moalboal and yesterday, I found out, this sleepy tourist town is quite a sporting hub. It hosted a Christmas Fun Run, a shooting competition and a football festival. My cousin Aris, whose team once beat PDEA in a team competition in Davao City, said he was joining the shooting competition to check the local community of shooters and see how organized they were.

THOUGH it ended with yet another semifinal exit in the Asean Football Federation Suzuki Cup, 2012 was the best year for Philippine football. And not just for the men’s team. We reached our second semifinal and got our first major trophy during the AFC Challenge Cup, we won the Peace Cup trophy, our first title in 99 years, and we reached another semifinal in the Suzuki Cup.

THE first time I saw the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu Eagles beat Don Bosco Technological Center in a high school football finals, I thought it was just one of those flukes that won't happen again. It's a good thing that the Eagles didn't think that way.

MY home back in South Cotabato was about 50 meters away from the tennis court, and about 100 meters from the football field, so tennis has always been one of my favorite sports. That's why I'm really glad that Lapu-Lapu City gets to host a Davis Cup match, for the third time.  And, aside from that, it's  great to hear, too, from the organizers that they are doing their best to make sure there will be a crowd for Syria vs. Philippines game, one that we have more than an even chance to win.

THE Gov. Gwen Garcia Unity Volleyball Cup was launched to much hype in 2005, but now on its eighth year, is it losing its appeal? Though it is a sports event, there were a lot of political undertones behind the tournament as it was the time when Cebu Province faced the threat of Sugbuak.  Hence the use of the word “unity” in a volleyball tournament. Yes, make no mistake about it, the GUV Cup was a political stunt and I seem to remember hearing the word unity twice every time the word Sugbuak was mentioned in speeches.

IF you missed the UFL Cup finals last Monday, you sure did miss one great game.  There was drama, excitement, and of course, great goals and great plays. You couldn't ask for a better ending for the UFL Cup.

The picture, taken by Anton Sheker, captures it all--the emotion, disappointment, all the what-ifs. Anton, who travels with the national team, wrote that the photo kept haunting him that night and brought him to tears. It was a photo of team captain Rob Gier, all alone in the team bench.  The no. 2, sat on the second seat, elbows on his knees and his face planted between both hands, just staring forward. 

THIS was supposed to be the day when we anticipate what would have one great end to a great week for Philippine sports. A Nonito Donaire Jr. win was supposed to cap it all off. Now, we can hope that bad things do come in threes and threes only, and that Donaire will make it all right again.

WHEN the final whistle was blown, I wanted to lead a round of applause for the team, but someone beat me to it. We were applauding.  Someone hollered a loud "yeah!", while there were a few "sayanga oi!" but the applause was constant. I think it lasted close to a minute.  And these guys weren't the usual guys I watch Azkal matches with.

I GOT the shock of my life a week ago, when I was trying to find a replay of the Philippines' matches in the AFF Suzuki Cup and couldn't find my favorite channels.  Crap, I thought. This must be that channel realignment thing Skycable has been touting. When I sit in front of the TV, muscle memory automatically dials 25, for my favorite docus, then I'll surf up to 45 for the sports channels. It is no longer possible. What crappy cable company would do this to its customers?

HAPITA oy!  Lapit na gid! Almost! Take your pick, I think that was the expression most of the fans had in that 0-0 draw with Singapore, in our first home game of the Suzuki Cup. And I'm not only talking about the rare times we had a shot because Singapore got us beat.  David Bennet, Aleksander Duric and Khairul Amri getting their chances inside or just outside the box. But thanks to Ed Sacapano, who had another shutout again, we got through.  

I grew up in South Cotabato, learned football and sportswriting there.  Despite living in Cebu for the past 16 years--nine years in college and seven or so in the Cebu media--I still consider myself a child of South Cotabato.  A Mindanaoan.

WHEN Phil Younghusband got subbed in the Thailand game, I thought that it he won't play for 90 minutes, it would have been best for the Loyola striker to play off the bench for the rest of the group stage. My rationale was, if you field Phil for only 60 or so minutes, it would be nice if he gets it in the final 60 or so, that way, a fresh Phil would be facing not so fresh defenders.

There are only five finalists left in the Suzuki Cup ultimate fan contest and one Pinay made it.  She's now third, trailing two Indonesian fans.  Well, let's lend her our clicks, shall we? You can vote here 

THIS is an epic week for Philippine sports and I don't think there's going to be one like it. First, of course, is the Philippines hosting the semifinal match of the AFF Suzuki Cup against Singapore this Saturday, our first, then, about 12 hours after the final whistle, it's Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez 4 in Las Vegas.

(I guess I'll just do my own match reports for the Aboitiz Cup matches.  Future reports will have more details--standings, qoutes--etc. once I get the data.  ML) FORMER national team training pool member Oliver Colina, the current Little Azkals head coach, led Leylam to a 5-0 rout of Convergys B in the Inter BPO category of the Aboitiz Cup over the weekend. Colina, who also handles Giuseppe, scored in the 28th minute to make it 3-0 after early goals by Edmar Galacio and Cem Casci in the first 15 minutes.

I REMEMBER my reaction when I read in a report that Dan Palami, the team manager of the Philippine men's team, say that the Azkals were the favorites to win the Suzuki Cup.  What was Dan smoking? A few hours after that report came out, I read a clarification from Dan, who said that he meant that the Azkals were "one of the favorites," but still, I thought even that statement was quite a stretch.