MANILA, Philippines - The main “goal” is to have the Philippine flag join the parade of colors of the great football nations of the globe in the next World Cup in Brazil in 2014.
Dan Palami, young businessman and sports patron who is playing the role as “very active” team manager of the country’s football team, aired confidence that with the proper training and support, the Philippines could vie in international football qualifiers and perform well enough to gain a slot in the next World Cup.
Palami, sans fanfare, had led a drive launched quietly last year to find promising football talents throughout the country to make up a rough pool from which to select members of the football team that has now been called “The Azkals”.
“We had enough unappreciated young football talent from which we formed a team that we are slowly but surely developing into a World Cup-class team,” Palami said in a recent interview before leaving for Hanoi, Vietnam where the Philippines put up a strong showing at the ASEAN Football Federation-Suzuki Cup, one of a long list of tournament qualifiers for the Brazil World Cup.
Palami declined to comment on the current controversy brewing in the local football scene as heads of football federations try to claim credit for the recent string of successes of the football team, saying he preferred to focus on motivating the team to work harder, and train for future battles on the football pitch.
He admitted that with the current lack of a nationwide football development program in schools, the task of spotting potential football talents was arduous and limited to the few football teams of some exclusive schools in Metro Manila and in certain provinces.
He noted that the current pool of 30 team members has many “Fil-foreigns” or Filipino-British or Fil-European youths who nurtured their love for and talent in football in soccer-crazy Europe.
philstar
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5 hours ago
settle down dan, a victory against vietnam doesnt make us a world class footballing nation. even wc2022 isnt possible for us!!!!
ReplyDeleteI think he's just too caught up in the excitement. Even if he's just saying it for promotion or to get more funding, statements like these are overboard. Gotta take steps, and recent results are steps in the right direction.
ReplyDeleteA modest/realistic goal is to have a strong showing or even just to qualify in the next AFC (Asian) Cup in 2015 where the likes of Korea, Japan, and Australia participate. There are NO ASEAN countries in the field of 16 for the 2011 Asian Cup this coming January because they all lost in the qualifying stages.
Any talk of the World Cup now is delusional and distracting to the real work of achieving slow, but staying progress.
yeah, brazil 2014, go azkals
ReplyDeletewe can always dream, can't we?
i guess joining the qualifiers is a start.
for south africa 204 countries joined and we ain't one of them.
One step at a time.. We haven't dominated Asia, heck, even SEA yet..
ReplyDeleteAgree with much that has been posted.
ReplyDeleteIts important to dream and shoot for the stars but also have your feet on the ground.
But take real steps to this and we will be there to support you.
Go RP!
I agree with small steps rather than a big leap, we don't want to get too over eager or anything. Let's aim for a SEA Games medal then the Asian Games. But more importantly let use this as a catalyst for the promotion of the football to our youth, calling the Dept. of Education and the specifically the PFF if your goal is for the CONTINUED development of Football in our country the key has always been the youth and the education sector - there are people in the PFF who knows that this is the key and yet they don't enact on it - NOW is the time ride the wave.
ReplyDeleteMr. Palami, if we want to see our flag flying in the parade of nation in the WC we have to establish a good grassroots program the youth of nation is the key. Your fil-foreign players are playing in countries were their football is based on a community level so they can play in community clubs like most professsional Football Clubs. In the Philippines our football players are mostly based in the schools - let move them out of this and establish a real community based program with the help of the government thru the DEPED we can move football in the Philippines.
Football glory can't be achieved overnight, I have taught and coach football in the homeland for 15 years and played GS,HS and Univ football - I'm glad that finally we have gained ground but let's use this to break the real ground to becoming a football power in the region (small steps ...)
i've read somewhere that indeed the azkals will be joining the asian qualifiers next year but it will have its own time. right now, we have a game against indonesia, so i'll focus on that. lets go azkaaaaaaaaaaaaals AZKAAAAAAAAAAAAALS whoa i think i just lost my voice, let me do that again AZKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALS.
ReplyDeletejust practicing folks!
Playing world cup 2012 is to Play "World class not World ASS...oops i forgot the CL --- Anyway if I am not mistaken this time, the Suzuki cup is just in Class D or C of ASEAN game not even in ASIAN much so the WORLD... The team are just qualifiers for the "SEMI" finals not Champions yet...stop PA-POGI Points maybe and just maybe the team can beat Indonesia by Luck. So many good players are on the line "PURE Blooded Filipino" ... it's time to tap their ability and capability and they will shock the World believe it or not... i am talking about the "JUAN DELA CRUZ" and not the "A" "B" and "Y" etc. attached to their Powerful , Rich and Foreign family names ...
ReplyDeletehe's merely setting the bar very high. what's wrong with that? imagine the kind of experience they'll gather along the way.
ReplyDeletepeople were asking with a mocking tone why we weren't joining the WC qualifiers. now here's a man willing to take the team a step further and you're complaining. about what? it's not your money.
one more thing: it doesn't look too obvious but mcmenemy has barely tapped the potential of the philippine team, considering the short time they've been together. their defensive play is based on caution. mcmenemy knows this and palami. give them a couple more years and you'll see.
indonesia bid to host the world cup in 2022, people laughed. if not for the bombing, indonesia would have attained a different level of football. though it wouldn't have won the world cup bid, it might have strengthened its position to host the Asian Cup.
but guess what? for setting the bar high, they have world class stadiums. and what has the philippines got? grumpy old men and crabs of all shapes and sizes. pweeh.
He's ambition is positive but for the meantime we should play real football. This isnt a track and field game event. We werent playing football but we can do better
ReplyDeleteReaching for the stars is a positive but let not forget that we have to attain a sustainable development of football in the country, who will replace this team when they are already past their prime potential? That should be the question like all the other sports development in the Philippines, once we gain ground we always forget that we should start from the ground-up. The YOUTH and EDUCATION and INVESTMENT in this SPORT not only FOOTBALL but all the other TEAM sports besides BASKETBALL - which gets most of the financial backing.
ReplyDeleteThe coach should make changes in the midfield and deploy a more attacking forward. We shouldnt go backwards and just defend all the time. Dear coach youve got the experience. I want to see UK footballing and tear tis thousands of unfair Indonesian fans n biased Indonesian footballing body. Show tem the Pinoy potential....
ReplyDeleteWell, at least we're going to try to qualify! It was embarrassing to have not even tried for the 2010 World Cup. Besides, more Azkal action? Heck yeah! Win or lose, it'll be a joy to watch them play!
ReplyDeleteBut first things first... Indonesia, no easy feat.
Anyone know if this game is being streamlined for free or can anyone stream it online so other Filipinos living in other parts of the world can watch the match?
ReplyDeleteI gathered the match starts at 8pm in Indonesia which means 4am in Los Angeles, California. I've caught the Azkals fever so I don't care if I have to wake up at 4am to watch our game.
If anyone can forward me the link, it'd be very much appreciated. My email address is pmyth@hotmail.com. Many thanks in advance!
GO PHILIPPINES!! GO AZKALS!!!
That's too far-fetched. The Philippine Football Team ought to beat its ASEAN neighbours first, not in friendlies, but in tournaments. We ought to be the best in Southeast Asia first. All these will come if we set some plans:
ReplyDeleteFirst, let's overhaul the PFF, replace them with people who really have the passion for football, hire top foreign coaches (not local coaches, no sir, not at this point), and let those kids from Barotac Nuevo become part of the training pool.
I hope, too, that the big TV networks in the country would have the initiative to air the EPL, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A. With this, people will appreciate football more..
And let's replace "Azkals" with something better.
Forza Pilipinas!