12 March 2011

Azkals expected in Ulan Bator today

by Cedelf P. Tupas


MANILA—The gripping journey included two train rides and offered the Philippine football team an actual glimpse of the devastation in earthquake and tsunami-hit Japan.

The Azkals managed to survive yesterday the transportation crisis that hounded Japan, arriving in Tokyo just in time to catch their flight to Beijing, where they will take another plane to the Mongolian capital of Ulan Bator.

The Azkals were scheduled to arrive in Ulan Bator early this morning, three days before the second leg of their AFC Challenge Cup qualifying duel with Mongolia.

“It was a long journey for the team, but we are happy that the team made it,” said Philippine Football Federation president Mariano “Nonong” Araneta. “Now they can focus on the match.”

For awhile Friday night, the prospect of the Azkals reaching Ulan Bator on schedule looked dim with roads to Tokyo damaged by the earthquake measured at 8.9 on the Richter Scale and operations at the Narita Airport came to a halt.

Gotemba, where the Azkals trained to acclimatize with Ulan Bator’s cold weather, is located in Southern Japan and is a three-hour drive from Tokyo.

The scenario was so serious that Araneta had broached the possibility of requesting the AFC to move the match to March 16.

But things started to normalize yesterday and the Azkals left Gotemba early Saturday morning. After a short bus ride, the team took the bullet train to Tokyo then transferred to another train to the airport.

The Azkals met up with teammate Jason Sabio, who spent the night at the airport after spending eight hours on the Japan Airlines plane that brought him to Tokyo from Chicago parked on the tarmac.

Another teammate, Simon Greatwich, found his United Airlines flight to Tokyo from Houston Friday diverted to Osaka. Greatwich flew to Incheon, South Korea, and will take a flight to Ulan Bator Saturday.

inquirer.net

8 comments:

  1. Azkals have arrived Ulan Bator now

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nagkita ang Azkals at si Sabio sa airport?
    Great timing!

    Anyway, out of topic but there's a small chance that Neil's gonna be able to play in Myanmar! He tweeted Dan Palami about a "good news"...he did not elaborate, but I'm hoping its that he'll be able to play!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I just saw that. Neil might make it to Myanmar but it is only a last minute decision, if he can go.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Lets qualify first.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Well it would be interesting to see how the Philippines does against Mongolia in a few days. Not only do they have to deal with subfreezing temperatures, they had to experience earthquakes while training in Japan and then had to travel by bus, train and on foot approximately 9 hours carrying their gear with them to get to Narita airport. One of them Jason Sabio,got stuck
    9 hours in a plane and had to live on the floor at Narita airport with very little food for nearly 2 days all this after traveling more than half a day from the US. They are tired, exhausted and hungry, so hopefully they can get some time to rest and recharge before playing in 2 days. At least they made it safely out of Japan. The last tweet before they went to sleep at 4-5Am in the morning in Ulan Bator, is that they're luggage didn't arrive with them. Tough luck!

    ReplyDelete
  6. The Azkals has just gained an added perspective on "journeying" that they didnt have previously. They faced big-time college teams for training and lost, faced big-time natural disasters, dealt with the intangibles out of the unfortunate earthquake/tsunami events, consciously trying to outsmart a bully weather, learning and adapting to constant changes by and by....

    The Azkal's true personality will shine through all these tough times. 
    And oh by the way, luggage missing! It keeps on gaining momentum towards
    the end, doesnt it?

    Tothose with a taste for the adventure, you just got to love the Azkal's current journey. The past several days has been loaded with so much. It's the real thing now, is it? It's about meeting great obstacles and finding ways to overcome them. It speaks of desperation, hopelessness, motivation, desire, love, and fortitude. It shows us how a team we love is being built towards a realization of a dream, that no matter what, no matter the great obstacles, no matter the non-believers, that the Azkals will see through a successful end eventually bring the beautiful game and the country to life.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Luggage is not missing. Apparently it got left behind intentionally in Beijing bec. of tight schedule. They went ahead to Ulan Bator but luggage supposed to arrive Sunday afternoon.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I just hope they still have a lot left in the tank after all those troubles especially those who had to join up with the team late. Definitely not the best of circumstances to prepare for this match. However, there are upsides to all of this. Its still is better than what they would have gotten without all the support from the private sector and the Japanese Football Federation. They are definitely a class act considering whats happening to their country. I think it puts things in perspective.

    ReplyDelete