With all the media hype surrounding the Philippine team and Philippine football in general, they must be expecting international media attention by the end of this year or to the start of next year. I’m prospecting CNN, ESPN, Fox News and the BBC to cover them, especially in the upcoming international matches in the Long Teng Cup, the AFC Challenge Cup and the AFF Suzuki Cup.
The BBC, in particular, will surely contact the UK-based players if they are noticed a lot more, i.e. Neil Etheridge, Rob Gier, the Younghusband and Greatwich brothers, and Mark MacMahon. They might be able to showcase them in their regional, national and international news shows. That would include Sportsday on BBC News, Sport Today on BBC World News, and even regional shows BBC South Today (for Rob Gier and the Greatwich brothers), BBC Reporting Scotland (for Mark MacMahon) and BBC London News (for Neil Etheridge and the Younghusband brothers). Given that Neil Etheridge has gained a lot of press appearances since he plays for Fulham FC, the Beeb should also take notice of his fellows for the sake of promoting football in the Philippines. BBC has a lot of resources for it.
CNN might take notice of team manager Dan Palami and skipper Aly Borromeo because of their recent successes. If ever anyone here in the Philippines takes use of their "CNN iReport" platform, we are sure of attracting these international press to know our team and how they are reviving football in the country. Also, CNN has a very wide range of producers, correspondents and affiliates, so this will not be a problem.
Sports Illustrated, a sister company of CNN, has took notice of the team's win against Vietnam in the previous AFF Suzuki Cup, so this is a startup.
I won't be surprised if other international media like ESPN, Fox News, MSNBC, Al Jazeera and the others will take notice of us in the future.
So they have to have preparations in store, especially for the PFF, in coordinating with these global media people. They must make measures on how they will relay their message of improving football in the Philippines through them.