Philippines

[veryfatchocobo]

For seriousness, since the Philippines have FINALLY broken away from the chains created by their basketball craze, I feel we're ready to have a thread, despite being ranked 150 according to FIFA. They'll be playing Mongolia February 9 (2011) in the Panaad Stadium located in Bacolod. If they lose, I guess this post will be moot then. Hopefully the 80 million pesos (?) investment for a full professional football league will be made to use.

Their nickname is the compound-ish word Azkal which stands for asong kalye (hint: calle), or (not literally) stray dog. Pretty much, that means that if you touch them, they fight. If you take them in, they'll be obedient. Or something along those lines.... If someone knows Tagalog and Spanish, the translation towards it would be much appreciated.

Part of the Philippines' history in football: The man who has scored the most goals for Barcelona (unofficially) was an Ilonggo Mestizo, who goes by the name of Paulino Alcantara. We were one of the first Asian countries to have a football team in Asia and we good, too, thanks to Alcantara. However, when he left, plus the American influence + we Filipinos admiring the Americans playing basketball, we've been manhandled until the great hero, Simon McMenemy, resurrected the Azkals. Too bad he's not coaching anymore. He'll always be remembered for what he did.

Apparently, current coach Hans Michael Weiss is trying to implement an attacking squad (I hope he means Barcelona-style total football). After all, all Asian teams should play this way. Look at Japan. They turned from a lucky team with Okada into the monster house of Asia in the span of a couple weeks thanks to Zaccheroni.

I find it funny that Neil Etheridge (apparently, Fulham's site says he's 2nd string when Stockingdale is) plays for the team, since he is of Filipino blood. Based on the AFC Challenge Cup, he's obviously the number 1 keeper in Southeast Asia by a long shot, if not top 10 in Asia, and probably would be starting in almost every Asian team bar Australia (Schwarzer obviously is first choice in Fulham) and Japan (Kawashima = pure BEAST). BTW, I'm looking at you, South Korea. The Younghusbands really should play professionally though. They've been lazing around GMA and modeling magazines in the Philippines for way too long IMO. Wasting

Also, I'd like opinions about the "foreigners" playing for the national team. Every player has Filipino blood through their parents, and as a fellow Fil-Am, I have to say that my parents never lost their allegiance to the Philippines, which is the same case for these Azkaleros. I now ask if this would be considered blasphemy if they theoretically make the Asian Cup (or World Cup) when 4/11 of the starters are Filipino-blooded but not born in the Philippines. I know this is a hot topic in Southeast Asia; seems to me though this is kinda like the issue that Giuseppe Rossi is facing, except 4+ times the amount. <_<

But yeah. Maybe this'll get some fellow Azkals to come here and stuff. I see lots of people picking up the game in the Philippines are turning to Chelsea (I don't hate this team really) and Real Madrid, when part of the Philippines' sports history is part of Barcelona (or vice versa).

 

[mittchan82]

I don't know too much about PI's sports situation so I turned to my wife and asked her about football in PI. Her reactions was "if they DO put that much money in sports, it's just a cover up for some politician's money laundry scheme." While she lived in PI, she never saw anyone playing football (or the ball itself, matter of fact) so she don't believe that much money would be invested in football.

Personally, I would love to see football regain it's place in PI so that when I go to visit, I may be able to catch some local games. And hopefully, my wife would get into football as well.

Keep us updated with what's going on with the Azkal.

 

[veryfatchocobo]

Well, the thing about football in the Philippines is that it's mostly a Central Visayan predominant sport. You know, Cebu, Bacolod, Ilonggo, etc. Manila has absolutely zero football mentality since they're stuck on basketball. So I'm guessing your wife is Tagalog?

LOL that is true about the money scheme. As long as Arroyo and the Marcos factions in government don't have control of who's in charge of the money, the 80Mill Pesos shouldn't be used too much for other political crap.

 

[La Furia]

Some countries just aren't footballing countries. Look at India, despite their size and resources they are too obsessed with cricket to care about football. At least you guys don't play cricket.

There will probably be some improvements, but we are talking about moving from 150 to 120. Let's be realistic here, any great player the country produces will likely qualify for a Spanish or American passport and take advantage of it.

Hope the investment helps though.

 

[mittchan82]

I hope the money will be well spent for the sake of the game in PI. Again my wife says, Arroyo or Marcos might not be around but there will always be someone else who are as greedy or even worse. Geez, my wife's a kill-joy ain't she?

 

[Venomenon]

The Philippines' program is going on the right track I think. They just have to balance football and all the fame & hoopla.

The Younghusbands are a household name right now, and it's all good. But on their part, they should not get too consumed by fame and should be trying to improve their games. This is most especially true for James Younghusband, who sometimes lets his temper get the best of him.

I hope they get rid of Ian Araneta fast. He's okay but he rushes too much and makes a lot of boo-boos.

 

[veryfatchocobo]

What the Younghusbands should do is play professionally and not stay in the camera spotlight, especially Phil, since he's dating Angel Locsin. He missed his chance professionally because of those cameras...... but at least he's still good at the SEA level...

I find it cool that the guy in the best current goalscoring form aren't the Younghusbands or the other guys but Caligdong. He reminds me of a very raw Messi. If he played outside of the Philippines during his growing years, he would've been a monster, especially in Indonesia or the other countries.

 

[Lemmi]

I missed them playing a game in Bacoclod by a couple of days.. Few players that play in my best mates team and rivals have been called up (Sussex County League)

 

[Venomenon]

Well they just laid a fat egg in the Middle East. They got crushed, like 3-0 crushed. Here's to hoping that they bounce back.