MANILA, Philippines — German coach Hans Michael Weiss arrived over the weekend with a goal of taking the national football team to greater heights after achieving unprecedented success in his previous assignment in Rwanda.
“We want to go to the next step that's why I'm here,” Weiss told the Philippine Daily Inquirer. “I want to develop a very good, strong team that could move up to the second class of Asian football.”
To achieve that, Weiss said, he would like to “restructure” the whole program, particularly in the scouting of players for the squad.
“It's important to build a very good structure of scouting players and move on from there,” said the 43-year-old, who has also been tasked to handle the Under-23 team for the Southeast Asian Games in December. “We need as many training and exposure as possible.”
Weiss was tapped to coach the national squad as part of the assistance package to the Philippines by the German Football Association (DFB).
Weiss steered Rwanda's Under-17 team to the World Cup in Mexico for the first time in the country's history.
As technical director, he also developed several players in the Rwanda national team and local coaches who have now taken over their jobs in the national squad.
“I think we have left a trademark there in Rwanda,” he said. “I think Rwanda will forever speak positively about the cooperation with Germany.”
BEAT MONGOLIA COMFORTABLY
Weiss said he would not look past Mongolia, which the Azkals have been set to play in a two-game qualifying series for a spot in the group stage of the AFC Challenge Cup.
“We have to focus on Mongolia, that's the important thing,” he said. “We must beat them comfortably then we can talk about other issues. I also have the SEA Games in mind.”
Weiss said he was impressed by the Azkals' performance in the Suzuki Cup, considering that the country has not built a regular league.
“The team impressed me,” said Weiss. “But obviously we have players like Neil Etheridge and Phil Younghusband who have international experience, which made it easier.”
Weiss said he has been planning to adapt a more attacking style of play for the Azkals, who were criticized by Vietnam coach Henrique Calisto for their cautious play in their 2-0 upset of the 2008 Suzuki Cup champions in Hanoi last month. The Azkals went on to reach the semifinals for the first time in the tournament.
Cebu Daily News
KOREA DPR ARE #U17WWC CHAMPIONS! 🇰🇵🏆
9 hours ago
2008 suzuki cup? paki-proof read
ReplyDeleteCoach Weiss had emphasized three things so far that has been lacking before:
ReplyDelete1. Conditioning - Did anybody noticed how tired our team looked in the 2nd half of the semifinals of the Suzuki cup against Indonesia?
2. Scouting - A single tryout is really not the best way to choose players. Players should be observed over a period of time to see how they perform under different conditions and under different setups. Also they might not be at their best during a tryout bec. they are recovering from injury or be having an off day(due to pressure) during this time). Players also develop at different rates so it would be better to see if they get better after a certain period of time.
3. The Germans are sending us a goalkeeping coach which will help develop our local goalies not only with the national team but by holding clinics for our goalie instructors.
So far so good. I am looking forward to see what else the new coach will add to our team and to the development of football in general.
Hey Annonymous, although I am not a fan of these guys who write lousy press releases, what the writer was mentioning is that Vietnam was the 2008 Suzuki Cup Champion.
ReplyDeleteI am pretty sure this German knows what he is doing in terms of team selection. But with the Mongolia game less than 3 weeks away, he may not have the advantage of time here. Let alone fitting those new recruits into the game plan. I just hope they dont lose sight of the things they have been doing right. Does anybody know if Mongolia is ranked above us?
Mongolia is ranked 182 while we are ranked 153 in FIFA. I think we can beat them without any additional players but the key is to win by a big margin in the first leg so as to make the 2nd leg moot and academic.
ReplyDeleteThe average temp. in Ulan Bator even in March is below 0 C so our local based players will have a hard time dealing with the cold. Some of our Fil Euros though shouldn't have any problems with it so adding the Fil Germans would be a good idea then.
This would be a good first game for the coach as the opponent is not too hard.
Most high level coaches that I know feel that it does not take them long to evaluate a player. When they evaluate some players as having similar levels of skill, size, strength, fitness, then they take a bit more time to decide. A good coach will take a player with potential and tell him what they need to work on for the next tryout.
ReplyDeleteFitness should be the responsibilty of the player. Normally a player should run and work out on their own time. When preparing for a big match a team should be concentrating on tactics, skills, and working as a team. It is a waste of everybody's time if they have to work on fitness. We did not bring a coach all the way from Germany to stand around watching players run. Pacman has shown us that fitness can make a huge difference. As a professional it is his job to be fit and the harder he works, the better he fights. It is tough to tell students and players with jobs that they need to find an extra 2 hours a day to work out but if they want to compete against professionals from other countries they have to find the time.
In addition to the cold the Ulan Bator game will be played at altitude. Mexico is almost unbeatable in Mexico City because the altitude weakens their opponents. The first game will be very important.
Are you crazy? Have you ever been an athlete or played soccer. Saying things fitness should be the responsibility of the player show how little you know about sports. That is why the most successful nations from Australia, the US and the former soviet nations are so successful bec. they treat sports as a science and dedicated trainers to make sure their athletes are at peak capacity. Even Manny Pacquiao has a trainer as most high level boxers have nowadays. Thinking like yours is why our country has fallen behind other nations.
ReplyDeleteI agree with eagle on this one, athletes have a responsibility to a certain extent but especially in the Philippines wherein not all of the players are practicing with their respective clubs, ultimately its the teams responsibility to keep them in shape. You cant blame the players come Feb 9 if they arent match fit. Then dont select them. Everyone knew about when the next game would be so the assistant coaches should have been continuing the training sessions even after the coach was replaced. Its the teams responsibility now to make sure everyone is in better condition.
ReplyDeleteOn a coaching standpoint, i understand what anonymous is saying. With 3 weeks to go you shouldnt be worrying about conditioning. But then if that was the case, then we shouldnt be holding tryouts for the senior team now. Just make sure you keep the Suzuki Cup team intact and match ready. again, everything is being fast tracked which is sign of how disorganized we are. We are trying to add players in who will make us stronger which is admirable but again given the few weeks i dont know if that will be enough to integrate them into a new system and with a new coach to boot. I just hope all of this doesnt affect our quality.
No. I am not crazy and I am very familiar with high performance athletes. Even when they are on holidays, they run or go to the gym. When they get up in the morning they go for a run. Many pay for personal trainers, physiotherapists and dieticians out of their own money to prepare for training camps. It used to be in professional sports that the purpose of preseason training was to get players in shape and they would show up 15 pounds overweight. Now they are expected to do their own running and workouts so that when they show up on the pitch they are already in shape and ready to work. Team trainers may assist in preparing a work out schedule or program but it is up to the player to do the work.
ReplyDeleteYes I have played, coached, managed and refereed football and have been to international matches featuring England, Germany, Scotland, Holland, Mexico, Brazil, and others.
If I have a two hour practice, I want my players to have a ball at their feet for most of the time. Players need to train to be in shape to play football and not expect to play football to get in shape. I have better things to do than watch unfit players run around a track because they showed up for training not ready to perform.
It would be great if we had a fitness facility with full time professional trainers and physiotherapists dedicated to the fitness of our national teams. We don't even have the money to pay for the electricity to properly light the field. So players have to take personal responsibility for their fitness.
Of course the players have to train on their own. That is a given for any athlete that expects to be successful. Unfortunately it is a proven scientific fact that psychologically when players are left on their own, they don't always push themselves to the limit. I know this for a fact from my own experience playing and coaching as well as studying sports science subjects. Sports science has evolved considerably through the years and if you don't keep up, you will get left behind. Why do you think we send our players to China, US or other countries prior to any major tournament? Instead of the 'let them train' attitude that you support, they undergo rigid training under coaches who supervise every aspect of that training. Do you think Michael Phelps would have broken all those records without a coach monitoring his every move? Your ideas are outdated and will only lead to mediocrity.
ReplyDeleteBTW, what Coach Weiss has done is institute twice a day practices with the early morning practice geared more towards fitness and conditioning. That doesn't require a fitness facility that you mentioned.
ReplyDeletePerhaps you did not read the part where I stated that many top athletes pay for personal trainers, physiotherapists, and dieticians out of their own money. I know that personally because, I have paid for my child's private training. I don't think Michael Phelps showed up three weeks prior to the Olympics expecting the national team to get him in shape. Yes I believe in scientific methods. My point is that players need to take responsibility for their fitness, including paying for trainers themselves, prior to showing up to a national team training camp. The PFF trainers and physios all need to support themselves with other jobs.
ReplyDeleteIf we had a truly professional league we wouldn't be worrying too much about our players fitness as they will be training 5 times a week with a game on the weekend. That is why we run out of gas in the semifinals of the Suzuki cup while the Indos who were all professionals were in better shape than us.
ReplyDeleteModern professional players are expected to train in the offseason but they still go through a preseason training camp incl. an intensive fitness routine prior to actually playing games.
And yes 3 weeks of training is not ideal but must include a
fitness component as well. When I was observing the US soccer team prepare for the World Cup after gathering from all over the world a few weeks prior to the tournament, the first thing they did in the first week is to establish a fitness baseline to see where each player is at and then build up stamina with increasingly difficult exercises. Only during the 2nd week did they start scrimmaging.
This is even more important if you are preparing for high altitude games as the fitness of each players becomes critical. I know you are basing a lot of your ideas on your experiences locally but if you read a bit more on modern training techniques , you might get a better idea of how sports science has evolved worldwide.
Yes, it is tough for part time players to compete with professionals. They have to take the bus to fitmess practice, then go to school or work and then come back for evening practice. Then they get home and they have to study or do household chores before their heads hit the pillows. I don't know if the Air Force players get paid leave. The physios and assistant coaches have the same schedule and they never get their names in the paper. Despite all the effort, I know the WNT is eager to get back in full time training for a game. It would be great if employers would step up and give some of these players jobs that would give them time to train and still live some kind of normal family life.
ReplyDeleteYes, I sympathize with the difficulties everyone involved in soccer have to endure in our local scene. Sometimes because I no longer live there, I lose track of the economic realities that differentiate the Philippine situation from more developed countries.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like though esp. on the men's side, that things are starting to look up. I think the possibility of a truly professional league in our country where our players can develop while earning a decent paycheck with adequate medical insurance is slowly becoming a reality.
More and more corporate sponsors are willing to invest in our sport and public interest continues to increase. Only a few months ago you can barely find any news reports dealing with football in the local scene. Now we find numerous articles being written everyday on the Azkals and even on the league and college football events. Hope it all continues.
BTW here in the US several companies like UPS, etc. give their employees time to train while earning a full paycheck. In return, these athletes who are recognized as heroes and therefore are marketable, appear on ads promoting their employer's products. It makes the employer look good to the general public and entices the public to buy their products or use their service. Maybe you could ask the bigger companies to do the same over there.
Anyways I hope the WNT does as well as the mens. I don't know how feasible it is financially for you to do so but there are a lot of US and Canadian players at the higher levels of soccer who can play for this team. They can easily dominate SEA and be very competitive at the Asian level as well. Some of them have played for their respective national teams already but there are still many who can play for us. Some of them who have retired are now coaching and could be a candidate coaches for our different womens and girls national teams. Hope you find sponsors to help fund this initiatives.
As for the PFF website, check the PRFU(Philippine Rugby Football Union) for an example of a well designed website. It helps market their sport and inform and educate their fans and looks very professional indeed. (-: Good luck on that.
Yes, the WNT has the capacity to dominate the AFF and SEA Games. Azkals.com lists 20 or so pinays with NCAA D1 experience. Unfortunately all the funding is going to the much lower ranked MNT.
ReplyDeleteThere is one men's D1 player who would like to tryout for the team. His name is Vincent Ocampo a 4 yr. starter at Loyola Marymount Univ. in LA. I have talked to his coach who says that Vincent is good enough to turn pro and is a complete player with good technical and tactical skills. I have sent his contact info to team management. Hope they act on it for he is really a good player.
ReplyDelete