Source: Felix Codilla III, Business Mirror
ORMOC CITY—While the Philippines Football Federation (PFF) searches for young homegrown talent to develop for future competitions, its officials admit there is a need to reinforce the current seniors squad with players who grew up playing the foreign brand of football.
Azkals team manager Dan Palami and other officials are scheduled to conduct tryouts in England and the US and hold a training camp in Dubai, noting that the Philippines is years behind the Europeans and other football-mad nations.
“It’s this realization that requires us to look for Filipinos outside the country who have better training,” said Palami.
“I’m sure given the time and popularity the sport is having [here], there will come a time when our dependence on foreign-based Filipinos will be lessened. But at this point, we have no choice but to look for players outside the Philippines to augment our bench,” he added.
The Filipino-foreign recruits have also helped boost the Azkals off the pitch, drawing thousands, if not millions, of admirers.
And so female fans here were hugely disappointed when the team planed in for a two-day visit over the weekend without three of the most popular Azkals—brothers James and Phil Younghusband and Neil Etheridge.
The only Filipino-foreigner who came along was William Guerridon who was adopted by a family in Germany when he was five years old. The team is in Ormoc to grace the National Football Invitational Tournament, one of the events of the Terry Larrazabal Bike Festival.
Angie, one of the autograph-seeking teens waiting for the squad, said she is happy the players took time to visit their fans here but quickly added it would have been better if the other Filipino-foreigners joined the trip.
Asked about talks that suggest the squad wouldn’t have risen to fame if not for the Filipino-foreigners, Palami explained that football is a team sport and should be considered as such and that he believes the sport is bigger than any other nationality and goes beyond personality.
He noted that the Younghusbands have been with the team for years now but it was the semifinal run in the Asean Football Federation Cup that shot them to stardom.
“I would like to think that it is more the success of the team rather than the looks of individuals that make the team acceptable to the masses,” Palami said.
“Of course, we couldn’t discount good looks and good skills will always get a better number of fans. But I think there are a lot of fans who are actually educated in football already and their admiration for the team goes beyond a single person. That’s the more important thing,” he added.
Palami added that Phil Younghusband didn’t play in Myanmar.
“It’s not that he’s not important, but (my point is) the guys play as a team and that’s what it’s giving them success,” he explains.
He noted there are homegrown key players like Ian Araneta, who scored the first goal in Bangladesh and Yanti Barsales who hit a goal in Myanmar, among others.
Palami admits there are fans who know only stars and celebrities but noted they are those who are not really into the game but there are those who appreciate other aspects of the game and members of the team including the coaching and support staff.
He also concedes it will take a while for Filipinos in general to develop the love for football rather than the individual players.
Source: Francis Santiago, Manila Bulletin
MANILA, Philippines – Filipino-Spanish Juan Luis Guirado, a midfielder who plays in the Spanish Division III team Lermeno of Burgos, may join the Philippine Azkals in their bid to qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Juan, 31, is the older brother of Angel, an attacking midfielder who helped the Filipino booters advanced in the finals of the Asian Football Confederation Challenge Cup last month in Yangon, Myanmar.
Azkals coordinator Patrick Ace Bright said team manager Dan Palami is hoping to get the elder Guirado, who could be a big boost for the national football team seeking a huge victory in their World Cup qualifying first-round match against Sri Lanka on June 29.
“We’re hoping that he (Juan) could process his Filipino passport in time for the qualifier,” Bright said Monday.
Rafael Garcia, cousin of the Guirado brothers who worked as interpreter for Angel when he was in the country, said Juan has not yet declared himself available for team because of his commitments in Spain.
Juan works as freight handler for Pepsi Cola Spain in the morning and plays for his team in the afternoon.
“There’s a 50-50 chance he would make himself available for the Azkals tryouts,” said Garcia who coordinates with the Azkals officials. “We have given him (Juan) until the end of April to process his passport in Madrid. But if he couldn’t do it, then that means he could not join.”
Garcia said Juan would be a huge help for the Azkals’ bid the same way Angel had helped the team in the Challenge Cup.
Angel, who impressed Azkals coach Michael Weiss no end, scored two goals in the Filipino booters’ 3-0 demolition of Bangladesh in the last of the three Challenge Cup group elimination round matches in Yangon, Myanmar.
Source: Celest R. Flores, Inquirer
LOS BANOS, LAGUNA - The Philippine Football Federation is considering the historical Rizal Memorial Track and Football Stadium as one of the venues for the home games of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers starting in June said PFF president Mariano “Nonong” Araneta Wednesday.
With the first and second round of qualifiers for the World Cup played with a home-and-away format, the PFF started looking for other options aside from the Panaad Stadium in Bacolod.
“We will try to look at Rizal Memorial (today) and see how we can fix it,” said Araneta in the PFF Suzuki U-23 national championships in UP Los Banos in Laguna.
Rizal Memorial Stadium, with a capacity of 30, 000, was once home of the national football team and used to host major football matches since its creation in the 1930s.
But its rapid dilapidation throughout the years made it unfit for international standards, and eventually the national team, now widely known as the Azkals, had the constant problem with its practice and game venues.
In the first leg of the AFC Challenge Cup pre-qualifying against Mongolia last February, the Azkals played their first ever home game since their amazing run in the AFF Suzuki Cup in Bacolod's Panaad Stadium.
The stadium, with a standing capacity of 20,000, was brimming from the VIP area up to the bleachers by fans from around the Philippines who trooped there just to watch the Azkals.
The team before, though, had problems with the lack of stadium of top standard during the Suzuki Cup late last year and had to play both legs of the semifinals, which they eventually lost, in Bung Karno stadium in Indonesia.
But Araneta expressed said the PFF and the Azkals will not encounter the same difficulty because the AFC, the main governing body of football in Asia, does not have the same requirements like that of the AFF.
“Actually, the capacity only will be considered if the home country wants more gate receipts,” said Araneta. “The home game is actually to help the host country.”
The quality of the pitch, the lighting, air-conditioned dressing rooms, security within the area, and media rooms, though, are among AFC’s top concerns, according to Araneta.
“If it’s televised and the field is up to international standards then the game will be better,” Araneta added.
Whether Rizal Memorial will live up to these requirements, the PFF will only find out after its ocular inspection of the field today.
The Azkals, drawn against Sri Lanka in the first round of the qualifiers, will play the first leg in the opponents turf in June 29 before shifting back to the Philippines on July 3.
