Malay Mail eyes more football visits to Bacolod next year

VISITING Malaysian football club Malay Mail, which finished behind Bacolod United FC in last week’s Philippines-Malaysia Veterans Football Championship 2009 plans to come back next year together with other Malaysian club teams to compete in a much bigger edition of the event.
This was confirmed by Edward Magallona, Philippine Football Federation (PFF) grassroots committee head, who was instrumental in bringing Malay Mail here for last weekend’s inaugural veterans’ series.

Malay Mail, owned by journalist Tony Mariadas, plans to come back in January next year with another batch of veteran footballers who will play against local clubs.
“Malay Mail will be back again at least twice next year to hopefully play against local veteran club teams from Bacolod as well as from other football centers like Iloilo, Dumaguete, Cebu, Davao and Cagayan de Oro in a tournament that will hopefully be bigger in terms of the number of participating teams,” Magallona said.
While in Bacolod, Mariadas took time to renew ties with former Negros Occidental Football Association (NOFA) president Ricardo ‘Cano’ Tan, who was responsible for bringing the team here in the 1990s to compete in the President’s Cup football series which was participated by the RP national squad, as well as teams from Chinese Taipei and Pakistan and China, among others.
PFF general secretary Cyril Dofitas, who was in town to oversee the staging of last weekend’s series at Panaad in cooperation with local organizing committee head Rafael Lizares, president of the Executive Village Football Club, said he looks forward to a much bigger tournament next year.
“We envision this to be an annual event henceforth,” Dofitas said.
Malay Mail bowed to Bacolod United FC, 2-3, in the title match last Sunday with the Bacolod side’s goals coming from former national team mainstay Norman Fegidero Jr. with 2, coming in the 23rd and 27th minutes, while teammate Greg Gustilo sealed the win with a goal in the 50th minute.
he Malaysians scored through Supramanian who broke the ice in the 9th minute while Moud Faridzal Kazim added another goal in the 36th minute.
Real Negrense FC finished third after winning 1-0 over ERCO Cebu FC.
The tournament was co-hosted by Bacolod United FC, mentored by former RP team coach Reynaldo Dofitas and Real Negrense FC headed by Jun Lacson.