Cebu Football

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's March 31 issue) THE past few weeks, I’ve been to more Aboitiz Cup matches than in the past few years. Back when I was in the beat, I would be in all matches, and I didn’t even need to see a match report or see a team lineup to get a story as I knew almost the best players in all divisions—the names that get mentioned in a story. It’s how I made friends and developed sources in the beat.

(This came out in the March 30 edition of Sun.Star Cebu ) COACH Glenn Ramos and the Don Bosco Technological Center added another title to their growing collection after winning the Under 23 division of the Aboitiz Cup. Don Bosco leaned on the golden boot of Christopher Ngwanta for their 5-0 win over Subangdako in the finals, completing their undefeated run in the division. Ngwanta, the top scorer in the tournament, needed only 37 minutes to complete a hat trick.

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's March 29 issue) DURING a lull in the 32nd Sportswriters Association of Cebu-San Miguel Beer sports awards, I got out for a break and witnessed quite a poignant scene. One of the football awardees also sneaked out to meet her parents, proudly showing off her trophy to who I presume was his sister and her parents.

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's March 27 issue) IN coming up with a decision on the 2014 brawl between Alcoy FC and Ateneo de Cebu in the Aboitiz Cup, the CFA cited the sanctions on the 2005 brawl between Hiroshi and Crazy Horse in the 2005 Thirsty Cup and the two-year bans the players received. I was there in 2005 and I saw it happen and the circumstances that led to it.And those involved in the latest brawl may learn a thing or two with what happened that day.

(Here's my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's March 22 issue) FIRST, a disclosure, as based on the online posts of some of those involved, their imaginations are getting wild. Sun.Star Cebu photographer Allan Cuizon is not the uncle of Alcoy goalkeeper Rodenel Bolinaro Jr.; our basketball reporter Rommel Manlosa is his uncle and Anol Mongaya, a former editor-in-chief of our sister publication Superbalita and a current columnist of both papers, is the brother of Enrico.

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's March 20 issue ) SO the sanctions are out on the players and coaches involved in the brawl, but not yet on the spectators who joined the fracas. Any sports association doesn’t have any hold on a member of the audience and the heaviest penalty it can give is a ban from watching future tournaments. And because of the set-up of football in the country, with the CFA as the PFF representative in Cebu, the sanctions will be forwarded to the national body and there is where those who face a six-month ban must be concerned.

(I've had about three drafts discarded for my scheduled Fair Play column for Thursday and since I expect this one to be discarded anew pending a press con at noon on Wednesday, I decided to publish it here. Ahem, a sober piece written at my usual witching hour.) THE now infamous parent was right when he intervened, seeing one player--who we now know wasn't his son--get pinned down in a headlock while his sister and mom watched helplessly, crying, from the sideline. He shouted at the goalkeeper to stop and while this was happening, the attention of the four match officials were on another melee on the far side of the court.

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's March 17 issue) I JUST read the proposed Magna Carta for Student Athletes by Sen. Pia Cayetano, which was filed just last March 6, and I think if passed, this will change the landscape in Philippine sports. More importantly, it will force a change in attitude of the people running the schools-based leagues like the UAAP, NCAA and the Cesafi. Aside from that, the way athletes are treated by public school coaches in the Palarong Pambansa meets will also change.

THE best of Cebu sports will again be feted in the annual Sportswriters Association of Cebu-San Miguel Beer Sports Awards on March 26  at the Ayala Activity Center. The Cebuano world champions in boxing, taekwondo and billiards, as well as rising stars in the PBA, will be feted this year for their achievement in 2013.

Coach Thomas Dooley said he sees some similarities between the US national football team in 1994 and  the Azkals today as both teams heavily rely on players who learned their football away from home. The US football scene, too, had a fledgling league--the Major League Soccer--when it hosted the World Cup--while the Azkals have the United Football League.

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's March 13 issue)  THE coach of the Japanese beach volleyball team was searching online for an alternative training venue and after a few clicks, connected with Eric LeCain, the beach volleyball consultant of the Philippine Sports Commission who’s made Cebu his home for the past few years. And just like that, Sayaka Mizoe and Taekimi Nishibori, together with their coach Yoshihiro Atsumi found themselves training in a sandcourt in the middle of the city, for their second training stint outside of Japan. That stint, I believe, will bring more foriegner beach volleyball players here as the three were elated over their two-week stint here and promised to spread the word.

(Here's my Fair Play column for Sun.Star  Cebu's March 10 issue) HERE’s the reality in age group sports. Sometimes the best players don’t get to represent the Philippines, but only those who have the  money to go to trips abroad. I’ve seen that happen a lot in football, when teams from rich schools form a Team Philippines to compete in tournaments in Europe or Asia. Is that wrong?

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's March 8 issue) I KNOW it’s bad form to talk about former national team coach Michael Weiss, but you just can’t help draw comparisons after seeing the first two games of the national team under coach Thomas Dooley. Coach Weiss, whose time with the team saw the Philippines attain its highest ranking, once said that “I don’t think if you’d get Arsene Wenger he could have done better. You talk about tiki-taka..tiki-taka...but I have to work with what I have.”

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's March 6 issue) I FINALLY saw the Malaysia vs. Philippines match when it was replayed by ABS-CBN and by god, was it beautiful. I really couldn’t judge much how the team fared when I saw the game on livestream last March 1 as the link froze every minute or so and there were a lot of annoying ads. But what I saw during the replay meant all those concerns about Coach Thomas Dooley having limited time handling the team before the Challenge Cup may be misplaced at all. Not a few thought Dan Palami and the PFF were crazy to make a coaching change this late, but hey, the Malaysia game has allayed those concerns.

IS THAT a girlie bar with a "Welcome PAL interclub golfers" sign?" Our fotog, Ruel, asked me during our failed search for a sports bar in Bacolod City during the last night of our PAL Interclub  coverage. It wasn't a girlie bar, let me straighten that out, but it was just one of the many places in Bacolod City that posted welcome signs for the participants of the PAL Interclub, signs that show a tournament of this  magnitude are very much welcome to the city's tourism industry.  

This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's March 1 issue BACOLOD City---The Philippines will have its first international game today  under coach Thomas Dooley, against familiar foes Malaysia  and to be honest, I don't expect the team to win. Not only are we facing Malaysia, a team we haven't beaten, this game might as well be also the first time the re-tooled national team will be playing as a team for the first time. The last two games against Malaysia both ended in a draw, with neither team scoring the last time around.  The two games before that all saw the Malaysians winning, 4-0, and 4-1.

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's Feb. 24 issue) ONE of the most astute comments I read when the Philippine national team was looking for a coach to replace Michael Weiss was that of the need for the Azkals not to appoint another OJT coach--or one who’s just learning his ropes. Like coach Michael Weiss, Thomas Dooley has never handled a senior men’s national team before and one said, “The Philippines doesn’t need another on the job trainee coach.”

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's Feb. 22 issue) A FEW writers have spoken up in favor of the naturalization of JaValee McGee and Andray Blatche for Gilas Pilipinas. One, writing for Rappler.com, said should the process push through, there’s no point calling any of the naturalized athletes an import and that we’ll be fielding an all-Pinoy team in the Fiba World Cup. He also paraphrased Rick Olivares and asked, “What’s wrong with naturalization? None!” He’s right of course. But he also got it wrong.

Late last year, there were reports that folks from the PSC and POC were considering letting the men's football team compete in the Asian Games.  A surprising move since the same officials slammed the door on the team in the SEA Games for failing to meet their absurd criteria. “Since there is no age requirement in the Asian Games as it is open to all players, we will field the Azkals in the Asian Games so they can test their skills and gauge their competence among the top Asian teams,” PSC chairman Ritchie Garcia told a national paper. 

THE Palarong Pambansa is the most difficult title to win in school football and now, Don Bosco Technological Center has a chance to win two after its elementary and high school teams won the Cviraa title recently. Winning the Cviraa isn’t quite an easy feat but Don Bosco, especially its elementary team, has seemed to make it a habit these past few years and the latest triumph is yet another boost to the Don Bosco brand of football but beneath the veneer of invincibility, are there cracks in the program?