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RP street-kid booters shock powerhouse Brazil
Cedelf Tupas

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines pulled off a stunning 6-2 victory over Brazil Thursday night for its first victory in the 1st Deloitte Street Children World Cup in Dunbar, South Africa.

Noriel Pineones sparked the Filipinos with four goals, including three in the first half that set the tone for the awe-inspiring triumph.

The Philippines faces Ukraine in the semifinals of the SCWC Shield.

The Filipinos finished the group stage third behind Britain and Tanzania with a win against two losses.

MANILA, Philippines – Chinese-Taipei dealt the Philippines a 4-1 beating Monday night as the hosts absorbed their second loss in the Asian Football Confederation Under-16 Group E qualifying tournament at the Panaad Stadium in Bacolod City.

Still reeling from a 0-12 crushing to Japan last Saturday, the Filipinos yielded three first-half goals that all but wrapped up the victory for the Taiwanese, who got two goals from striker Lee Meng-che.

Allen Shane Belera scored a consolation goal for the Filipinos two minutes into added time in the second half.

“I told them before the game to keep on attacking and they responded well,” said RP coach Glenn Ramos, whose squad will face Indonesia Tuesday and Bangladesh on Friday.

“Hopefully, we will win in our remaining two games.”

The Japanese lead the group with six points, after posting a 6-0 rout of Bangladesh Monday night.

Only the top two teams from the group will qualify for the main tournament at a still undetermined venue next year.

University of San Carlos goalkeeper Paolo Pascual was invited to join the national training camp in Manila by goalkeeping coach Noel Marcaida and could see action for RP in the AFC U19 Championships in China next month.

“I like his attitude and he is also aggressive,” Marcaida told Sun.Star Cebu in an interview.

According to Marcaida, Pascual was recommended by his Palarong Pambansa teammates.

“He also has the height and if he just performs consistently in the training camp, he will have a chance to make the team,” said Marcaida.

If he makes it, the 5’11” Pascual will be the fourth Cebuano called up for national team duties this year.

Other Cebuanos who made it this year are Carmelo Genco for the Under 14, head coach Glenn Ramos and Christian Noel for the Under 16.

Pascual will be competing with three others for the starting keeper’s spot and has the slight edge because of his age.

“We also have a 6’1” keeper but he is still playing for the Under 16,” said Marcaida.

However, the coach said Pascual will have a lot of catching up to do since he will miss the first 12 days of camp. USC will still play in the semifinals of the the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. this Sunday, while the camp started yesterday.

Marcaida said that head coach Lloyd James Lim will make the final cut on Oct. 22 and a day later, the team will fly to Macau for a five-day camp and four tune-up games against local clubs before leaving for China on Oct. 29.

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on October 2, 2009. By Mike Limpag

MANILA, Philippines – When James Younghusband flirted with a a modeling career in the Philippines last year, there were doubts if the former Chelsea reserve will ever play football again-professionally and for the national team.

While endorsement deals were falling Younghusband’s way, it seemed that he was also taking a step back in resurrecting what was once a promising footballing career in London.

After getting waived by Chelsea in 2006, he was finding difficulty getting signed up by a club and was suffering from a hamstring injury that had bothered him the past four years.

“I never lost the love for the game but I wanted to take time off the stress of making it big in England,” said the 22-year-old right winger, one of five foreign-born Filipinos who have been recalled to the national team for the AFC Challenge Cup Qualifiers in the Maldives starting tomorrow.

The wave of foreign talent brought in by Chelsea in 2005 made Younghusband a surplus and it didn’t take long before his stint with one of the world’s richest clubs came to an end.

“It was a big drop coming from Chelsea, where you are treated well, to finding a club where you have to fend for yourself,” he said.

Left without a club, Younghusband was convinced to take up a career in modeling. But he found the urge to return to the pitch too hard to resist. And in October last year, he left the glamour of photo shoots and parties and flew back to London in October to work on his game.

“The time off helped me grow up,” said Younghusband, prone to openly expressing his frustrations and criticizing game officials on the pitch. “I think I’m more mature and calm this time.”

And though he hasn’t been playing club football for quite some time, James is optimistic that he can contribute immensely to the national team’s cause in the Challenge Cup.

“I think this is my fittest in a long while,” he said. “I am always injured because I wasn’t fit. Now, I feel fresher after every training session.”

James said having his younger brother, Phil, in the RP Team would have made his return to the squad “perfect.”

“I definitely miss playing with him because we’ve been playing together almost our whole lives,” he said of his younger brother, who was once linked to a move to Major League Soccer team Los Angeles Galaxy.

James, though, believes the RP Team is capable of pulling a surprise in the Maldives, despite the short preparation.

“We may not have time to jell but we’ve grown up together as a team,” he said.

GERMAN national and Cebu Football Association (CebuFA) board member Manfred Schuwerk has resigned from his post less than a year after assuming it.

Schuwerk quit his position as the head of the Cebu FA’s referees committee for health reasons.

“I have already been in the hospital twice and I’ve called my doctor in Germany and he advised me to reduce my activities,” Schuwerk said in an interview with Sun.Star Cebu.

Schuwerk believes Cebu City will be fine without his services and that Lapu-Lapu needs him more to promote football in the area.

“I give my priority to the Lapu-Lapu kids rather than Cebu because Lapu-Lapu has nothing,” said the 65-year-old Shuwerk. “I want to uplift the quality of football in Lapu-Lapu and increase the number of football players here.”

Prospect

The Cebu FA already has a prospect in mind to replace Schuwerk. The board will still meet next Monday for the final decision on the German’s replacement.

Schuwerk is working on a summer program for Lapu-Lapu City and will also be hosting football and futsal tournaments this summer.

He has around 150 footballers in the city and he also plans to help the Lapu-Lapu squad for their next campaigns in the Cental Visayas Regional Athletic Association (Civraa) .

“I’m very much needed in Lapu-Lapu because the Cviraa team lacks experience,” he said.

Schuwerk said he will be also training teachers this summer so the teachers, in turn, can train their students.

The German national, who started teaching football in Lapu-Lapu City in 2004 and personally funding his programs, was awarded the Sportswriters Association of Cebu Orlacsan Award for his work in 2008.

Schuwerk was named one of the Cebu FA board members last year along with Cebu FA President Richard Montayre, Eleazar Toledo, Tony Moraza, Raffy Musni, Adonis Quitoy, Bro. Mari Aberasturi, Ricky Dakay and Rachel Genco.

MANILA, Philippines – The once international caliber football field at the Rizal Memorial Stadium will be restored by the end of the year, said Philippine Sports Commission chairman Harry Angping.

Angping vowed to raise P20 million from the private sector and some P30 to P40 million more from the government to rebuild what was once the centerpiece arena at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.

Angping, who began refurbishing the infrastructure inside the sprawling sports center, said the government allocation would come from a special fund to be earmarked by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

“We’re planning to transform the track oval into a football field by the last quarter of the year,” said Angping yesterday.

The football field inside the RMSC hosted all major tournaments of the sport and some international matches since the 1930s.

When a new tartan track was laid out at the oval for the country’s initial hosting of the Southeast Asian Games in 1981, the venue became a hub of activity for athletics and the football field’s condition slowly deteriorated.

National athletes presently training at the track and field oval will be relocated at Philsports in Pasig City or at the PSC training center in Baguio City.

“The weather and training conditions in Baguio are far more conducive. I think our athletes can train better there,” said Angping.

MANILA, Philippines-Former national women’s futsal team IROK Philippines is striking it out on their own as they join an international tournament in New Zealand this year.

Head coach Emmanuel Batungbacal said the team is currently raising funds to compete again at the Vikings Futsal Cup this August.

The team competed in last year’s tournament but placed at the bottom. They were able to beat host country New Zealand but lost closing games to stronger teams in Australia.

“But we’re bringing in lots of experience and some new players with us this time,” Batungbacal told INQUIRER.net via a telephone interview.

He expects teams from the United States and China to join the tournament this year.

Despite budget constraints, Batungbacal steered the former national team to a rousing bronze medal finish at the 2007 Southeast Asian Games.

Players however decided to quit the national team altogether after Batungbacal was sacked by Philippine Football Federation (PFF) chief Jose Mari Martinez.

Since then, the team has renamed itself the IROK Philippines Futsal Club and has been raising funds through sponsorships and other means to finance their trips abroad.

“We want to compete in other tournaments like the Five-A-Side in Australia but we have to take it one at a time because of limited funding,” Batungbacal said.

The team was earlier slated to compete at this year’s Asian Indoor Games. But it was not able to join because the tournament is sanctioned by the PFF.

Excitement, surprise and disbelief filled the Rizal room of the Philippine embassy in London last January 17. On that day, Pinoy football received a boost when the embassy pledged to support Philippine United, the first ever Filipino football team in the UK.

More than 50 people attended the groundbreaking event, which was attended by current members of the Philippine national football squad, hopefuls, supporters, press and enthusiasts.

The architect of Philippine United is Leo Jensen, a self-confessed Danish football fanatic whose aim is to promote and improve the level of football in the Philippines. Leo, who runs PFAUK or Philippine Football Agency UK, lives in Bolton with his Filipina wife. He has been pursuing the chance to create a British-based team for over eight years.

He said he came up with the idea during a trip to the Philippines, where he was saddened to find the national team underperforming in competitions. Rather than a shortage of ability, he attributed it to lack of unity, good training facilities and investment.

Back in the UK, Leo found it tough organizing a team without any financial support. Coupled with that, he had problems locating and mobilizing British born Pinoys with a passion for football. Then, things changed. They found him.

Philippine Generations, a charity run by second generation British Filipinos, discovered what Leo was trying to achieve and linked him to a network of football mad British Filipinos, including members of a Facebook group that brings Pinoys together for an occasional kick-about in Regents Park, London. From that, the foundations of Philippine United were formed.

Helping national team

Philippine United aims to provide Pinoys the opportunity to train and play competitive matches in a UK league. If things go to plan, the UK-based footballers would get the chance to go to the Philippines and play against teams there, while players from the Philippines could, in turn, come to the UK and train with their British-born counterparts.

Other than providing a venue where Filipino footballers can hone their skills, Philippine United would also function as a feeder club to the national side. Anyone in the team who excels could get the chance to try out for the Philippine national team, also known as the Azkals, which is a Tagalog colloquial term for street dogs.

There was a general feeling of shock among the players that attended the meeting at the embassy. After the team’s first trial held in Manchester last summer, none of them expected Leo’s vision to develop so soon. But half a year later, the players are once again dreaming of playing alongside other Filipinos in the national team.

Renee Banao, a defender, is one of those who attended the trial and is raring to go.

He said: “I’ve been playing football all my life. It’s a dream to play for my country, and today, you can see it’s getting somewhere. And hopefully, we can gather the guys up, play for the national team, and win some trophies”.

Long overdue

Many of the players feel the creation of a British-based Filipino football team was long overdue. When the current captain of Philippine United was asked what he thought, Renan Ramos said:

“Surprised is the right word. Football has never been a big sport in the Philippines, and it’s about time it’s recognized. It’s a major sport everywhere else in the world, why can’t it be in the Philippines? And the fact that everyone is surprised [about Philippine United] is because of that reason.

He added: “If you were at the trial, you’d see how passionate some of the players were, how hungry they are to succeed. At the moment, that’s what we’re lacking, a bit of hunger for success, and I think we’ve got the right ingredients here by moving forward with Philippine United.”

The Philippines has one of the oldest histories when it comes to football in Asia, but despite that it has not enjoyed any significant success on the international stage. However, things are changing with the national team taking huge strides in recent years.

Improving

The Azkals, which is currently placed 162nd in FIFA rankings, have been improving steadily ever since the inclusion of foreign-born Filipinos such as Neil Etheridge, Chad Gould, Phil and James Younghusband, and the Greatwich brothers – Philip, Chris and Simon.

Neil Etheridge, who plies his trade with English Premier League side Fulham FC, is the first-choice goalkeeper for the Azkals.

When asked about the current state of the national team he said: “It’s developing really well. Chris Greatwich is in the team. He has been playing for 5 years, and he says it has consistently been improving, and I can see that as well. So hopefully it will carry on in the near future.”

Norm Parkin, an agent and coach, who played for English football side Sheffield Wednesday, will be training Philippine United. He is optimistic about the future of Philippine football but highlights the need for more support.

He said: “I’ve been coaching there for nine years on-and-off for different colleges and academies. There’s a lot of good raw talent in the Philippines …but they need help, especially the street kids. I love working with the street kids, but there’s no-one to take it that step further.”

Parkin added: “Filipino kids are hungry for it. You give them a ball, they want to learn but then nothing happens until we go around maybe a year after, which is not enough. They need regular coaching. It kind of upsets me a little bit.”

Sponsors and trial

With the ball rolling, the Philippine embassy in London will now help the team search for sponsors and help to coordinate them with the PFF or Philippine Football Federation in Manila. PFF President Jose Mari Martinez is reportedly excited over the developments and is eager to see the project in full swing.

Another trial, which is open to anyone of Filipino descent, is scheduled for January 31 and will take place just outside London in Watford, Hertfordshire. Eventually, Leo says Philippine United will consist of 22-25 players.

At the beginning of the meeting, Philippine Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Reynaldo Catapang jokingly commented Philippine United will “render Manchester United history”. Also, while introducing himself, one player said, “I am a midfielder and I wish to be the next Zinedine Zidane.”

Both statements, although incredibly lofty and unlikely to materialize, are examples of the ambition and belief behind this initiative to get more Filipinos playing “the beautiful game.”

For those in the UK who think they have what it takes, the trial on January 31 will be held at: QUEENS SCHOOL, ALDENHAM ROAD, WATFORD, WD23 2TY

Source: ABS-CBNNews

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