aaahbanana:

juanrepublic:

A New Era for Philippine Football

Long considered one of the weakest teams in Southeast Asia, the Filipinos achieved the improbable Sunday night when they shut out defending champion Vietnamese, 2-0, in the Asean Football Federation Suzuki Cup at the My Dinh Stadium here…

(Click this Link to read the whole News Article)

Although it was kind of funny that majority of the team were half-Filipino. I don’t think they even knew the national anthem. =)))) 

Can I just say. That even if majority of the members of the team were half-Filipinos, the most important thing that their shock win over Vietnam showed was that the Filipinos are capable of playing good football. 

Kaya nating makipagsabayan sa international level. 

In the past two years, I’ve been involved in the U-16 and U-19 Women’s National teams. And I can say that, although there is talent for football in the country, my teammates and I are almost always outrun, outplayed and outclassed in international football tournaments. 

It’s not that we don’t have the ability to play good football. It’s just that, more often than not, the formation of the teams are done hastily, there are troubles with the training schedule, no money, no sponsors, etcetera, etcetera.

Preparation for the tournaments last only about a month. And in terms of fitness, and team cohesion, the team that gets sent to represent the Philippines abroad, just isn’t the best possible team it can be.

Going back to the recent win of the Men’s side. You can say that over half of the team are foreigners. You can argue for that. But that’s besides the point. The point is that this Philippine side is the most prepared it’s been since…well, since ever. They’ve been training since January. And, god damn it, it shows! 

I do hope they reach the semi-finals. I hope they go the distance. 

Because with their every showing of grit and resilience, I can see that—despite the tumultuous situation of the Philippine Football Federation—there is hope for football in this country.