By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
MANILA, Philippines — Two top sports officials are now willing to give the Philippine Azkals their due after one initially had second thoughts about the team’s potential and the other not fully convinced about building a football field that can pass international standards.
Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Jose “Peping” Cojuangco, who earlier warned not to have too much high expectations of the Azkals, is now looking at a possible medal finish for the team in the coming Southeast Asian Games.
Cojuangco said the Azkals’ spate of success, including their 2-0 win over the Mongolians in their AFC Challenge Cup qualifying match last Wednesday, could just be the start of something big for Philippine sports.
“Kung ganyan ang lalaruin natin, hindi lang tayo sasali sa SEAG, magmemedalya pa tayo (If that's the way we play, we won't just join SEAG, we'll win a medal),” Cojuangco said in a radio interview.
Meanwhile, Philippine Sports Commission chairman Richie Garcia said there’s a need for a bigger stadium after witnessing a record crowd who watched the game at the Panaad Stadium in Bacolod City.
One option, according to Garcia, is for the government to shoulder the construction or renovation of a stadium with a seating capacity of 30,000 to 40,000 since the PSC does not have resources to do it.
“Kung kukuha sa funds ng PSC, hindi kakayanin (If we get funds from the PSC, we won't be able to do it),” said Garcia.
The Rizal Memorial Football Stadium, however, can be reconfigured to have a 30,000 seating capacity but Garcia had turned down moves to renovate it, and even reportedly rescinded an agreement entered into by the previous PSC administration under Harry Angping with La Salle University to jointly rehabilitate the Rizal stadium.
But he said Thursday that the project with La Salle is almost complete
Manila Bulletin
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14 hours ago
haha! cojuangco himself said, don't have too much/high expectations. tapos ito siya ngayon, caught up in the hype. magmemedalya pa daw tayo sa sea games. ibang klase talaga!
ReplyDeletehe also needs to realize that sea games football is u-23. its a bit different. at the same time, the last time we entered the sea games football tournament was in 2005 which was also the first time we entered as since it becoming an u23 tournament. saying that we'll get a medal this year is too much. it should be about development and blooding some of the younger players and then maybe aim for a medal in the 2013 sea games, but not now.
They should consider Perdices Coliseum in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental as one of the contender. Its big and the people there loves football. give other provinces a chance.
ReplyDeleteoo nga, bkt s manila n nman, dun n s may malalaking space/land s province,
ReplyDeleteagree outside manila na sa Visayas
ReplyDeleteIloilo is also a good place to have a big football stadium. Iloilo is the football capital of the country.
ReplyDeletewhat's wrong with manila? if a new football stadium was built then it would most likely be the national stadium. and what national stadium is outside of the capital?? none!
ReplyDeleteThe whole Visayas, especially Western Visayas, has a greater following and much more football fans than Manila/Luzon.
ReplyDeleteto anonymous post above this....
ReplyDeleteit doesn't mean that a new stadium if built in manila won't get filled up to capacity.
this proposed new stadium should/would be the replacement for the rizal memorial stadium (national stadium). all the more that it should be in manila.