What happened to Philippine Football a year after the Azkals’ clinched qualifications for the Asian Cup?

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It was a year ago when the Philippines, amidst all adversities, made it past Tajikistan to qualify for the very first time to the AFC Asian Cup. However, nothing seemed to change in the setup of our youth system, let alone football in general.

It was March 27, 2018. A win or a draw could see the Philippines progress to the final stages of the AFC Asian Cup. The Azkals have the upper hand against their opponents Tajikistan as they’ve won four goals to three in front of the opposition’s crowd.

After all the troubles they had to go through, all the sufferings from the past, all the doubts and hatred they’ve received, they’re just a step away to prove them all wrong. It was a decent first half for both squads but come the 64th minute, the glory and the dream to make it to the big leagues of Asia started collapsing.

Akhtam Nazarov slotted a penalty to put the visitors ahead but 10 minutes after, Kevin Ingreso does not want to go home without a fight. A lovely ball from Martin Steuble saw Ingreso inside the box who nodded the ball past Abduazizov Mahkamov.

The goal sent the rafters on fire who egged the team on to victory. On the 90th minute, moments of madness amongst the fans and the players erupted as Patrick Reichelt was fouled inside the penalty box.

Up steps the team captain, Phil Younghusband who’s looking for his half-century goal and to send the Philippines to their maiden appearance in the AFC Asian Cup. He gave the keeper the eyes and sent him the wrong way to propel the Azkals to nirvana.

What’s with the youth program?

Fast forward to 2019, it seemed like we stopped where we left off. We’re supposed to be still in a high after we fought valiantly against South Korea, held off China to just three goals and leaving Dubai with at least a goal in our slate courtesy of Stephan Schrock but it doesn’t seem like it.

Two tournaments came by after the 2019 AFC Asian Cup for our youngsters and we haven’t produced a reasonable, let alone a result we are hoping for after the success of the senior team in recent years.

Last February 2019, the AFF U-22 Youth Championship came in as a real test to the grassroots program of the Philippines as we were pitted against powerhouses Thailand and Vietnam as well as another growing country in Timor Leste. The journey of our U-23 team started off with some promise as Jeremiah Borlongan slotted in a gorgeous free kick against Vietnam to put them in the lead.

However, towards the end of the match, the young Azkals conceded two goals on the 74th and 78th minute to blow the lead they got on the 51st minute. In their second game in the tournament, they faced a worthy opposition as Thailand wanted to retain the title they first got in 2005.

The match ended with Thailand going home with a three-nil victory after two goals coming in the first half before the final nail in the coffin on the 83rd minute.

The Philippines had a chance to go home with a victory as they faced a fellow rising country, Timor Leste. However, Mouzinho Barreto de Lima had other plans and sent his team to victory on the 64th minute, leaving us winless in the said tournament.

We’ve had another chance to re-claim ourselves in Malaysia as the AFC U-23 Championship 2020 qualifiers went under way but it proved to be no different, in fact, worst that their showcase in Cambodia.

We kicked off the campaign in Shah Alam with a loss at the hands of the hosts Malaysia via three-nil route. It was then followed by a miserable drubbing from China as they scored eight goals past our squad.

The final match was the final chance for our youngsters to take home at least a point in the tournament when they faced Laos. Two goals in the first half came in for the Philippines courtesy of Ateneo de Manila University stalwart Jarvey Gayoso.

The U-23 squad are on its way to victory when suddenly, Chitpasong Latthachack led the comeback for Laos as he rounded the defense before slotting the ball past Asong. It was then followed by a goal from the scramble from Vannasone Douangmaity to equalize.

Then on the fourth minute of stoppage time, it was a dagger to the heart that took the young Azkals down as Bounphachan Bounkong scored the late winner. All that was left on the field were devastated players in blue while their opponents clad in red rejoice.

With that defeat, the U-23 team opened 2019 with six straight defeats across two competitions. This has been a result of lack of preparation as the team only trained together for more than two weeks before flying to Cambodia and Malaysia.

Question is, knowing that plenty of the players who came in to the training camp of the senior team in Bangkok consisted of future U-23 players, why were the not tapped for the said tournaments? Are we now happy that we made it to the Asian Cup and that we no longer need to invest in the future of our youth teams? Hope that this is not the case and something bigger is on its way for the country’s football program.

PPL’s postponement of its opening day raises some eyebrows

Veering away from the national squads, we look into the current developments in the Philippine Premier League. In another turn of events, the PPL decided to postpone the opening day of the league from its original date of March 30 and move it to April 27. This move was made by the league to give way for Mendiola FC and Philippine Air Force to provide the PFF the necessary documents to file for a license so that they can join this season.

It was rather a welcoming development for this season as it will be better to see seven clubs compete against each other instead of just five clubs and lose some of its glamour and a chance to qualify for the AFC Champions League.

Though this is good news for the league, the fans are not taking it well as they’ve already anticipated the opening day to be scheduled by the end of this month as it just shows how excited the viewing public are for the league to start. Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see what the next days or weeks will bring to us heading into the opening day on April 27.

What’s next for Philippine Football?

With all these developments, roadblocks and downfalls we are currently facing, questions are now being asked of what’s next for football here in the country. It is worth noting that the Azkals have just finished their training camp in Bangkok.

Scott Cooper, the head coach of the Philippine Azkals saw a lot of promising players in the said that the camp has been “quiet and professional” and that they are building up the team slowly. Interestingly as well that the likes of Michael Kempter, Enrique Linares, Diego Bardanca, and Jose Carillo made it to the training camp.

All we have to do now is wait and see the fruits of the said training camp in the coming months especially when the qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup kicks off by September 2019. We’ll also expect more friendlies to come to give some test to the new lads who came in to represent the country.

In terms of club football, the issues regarding the licenses of the clubs joining this year’s Philippine Premier League are now being resolved as of posting and we hope for a fiery contest amongst the participating clubs.

Though the wait has been getting longer by the day, it’s enough to say that better late than sorry. For what it’s worth, PPL’s management are doing whatever they can to make sure the kick-off of this year’s competition will run smoothly.

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