01 August 2011

More Fil-fors eyed for Azkals

MANILA, Philippines - The search for more Fil-foreign talents to beef up the current Azkals lineup continues.

Team manager Dan Palami is leaving for Europe this month to sit down with players who have the great potential to help the Azkals in future international competitions.

While the Philippine Football Federation under Mariano Araneta is serious with its grassroots development program, Palami said tapping talents from abroad is still part of the plan.

“It’s a continuing process (the scouting). I will spend two weeks in Europe to get in touch with the Filipinos playing in different clubs there,” said Palami.

The Azkals team manager said they’re looking at a goalkeeper in France, and currently playing for the PSG (Paris Saint-Germain Football Club).

“He is pure Filipino now playing for PSG and being courted by Tottenham Spurs and Manchester United. And we have other players applying,” Palami said.

If they succeed in luring this player to their fold, the Azkals won’t find a hole in the middle in case Neil Etheridge, now playing for Fulham, is unavailable.

Palami said some of these players wanted to come over to the Philippines but he felt it was more practical if he flies to Europe to track them out.

Rob Gier, a key player for the Azkals, is based in Europe, and has been tapped as the team’s official scout.

“Rob knows the system we are using. He knows how things work, and he knows how to talk to these potential players,” said Palami.

The Azkals work around a solid bunch of Fil-foreign players, and has made great headway in putting the Philippines in the football map.

The recent match against Kuwait, a team ranked No. 102 in the world as compared to the Azkals who are at No. 159, showed how far the team has gone in the international arena.


“And since we’re improving we must be ready to face the biggest teams in the region. The fact that we are now playing against teams like Kuwait is a significant step toward the development of football here,” he said.

“Unlike before when we only had to contend with teams like East Timor or Myanmar, now we are being pitted against teams like Kuwait. To be able to compete against teams like Kuwait is a big step for us.

“Losing is part of the process. And we must all realize that you will not be up against these teams if you were not improving. You will not get to this stage if you keep on losing in the lower stages,” said Palami.

The Philippines may have failed in its bid to advance in the qualifying stages of the 2014 World Cup, but its recent performances have proven that there’s something positive going on.

“We are more competitive now, and I can only see a better future for Philippine football,” said Palami.

philstar

14 comments:

  1. "We are more competitive now, and I can only see a better future for Philippine football,"

    More idiocy from Palami!! How the hell can you say that Philippine football as a whole has a bright future when the only thing making strides forward is the national team?!?! Everything below that is either stagnant or simply non-existent! Absolutely moronic!! This is what you get when the team manager is also financier and the head of the national team department all in one!

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  2. QUOTE - “He is pure Filipino now playing for PSG and being courted by Tottenham Spurs and Manchester United. And we have other players applying,” Palami said.

    If they succeed in luring this player to their fold, the Azkals won’t find a hole in the middle in case Neil Etheridge, now playing for Fulham, is unavailable. End QUOTE.

    Well, the chances are alot bigger that this would be turned around. This french guy is very talented, and if he keeps on developing his game, he will be one of the prospects for the french national team in a few years. This guy has so much more potential than Neil will ever have. So id say, if this guy says yes, which will never happen in a million years, is that Neil will be our reserve goalie. The french goalie has already had some first team action for his club, while Neil has been so fortunate to warm the bench on a couple of occasions. I dont understand either why Palami should bother to convince this french player to play for the azkals, and literally waste his talent by playing for the azkals. Let him be and ask him again in 5-8 years if he still hasnt made it for the french national team! He has already played several friendlies for his team this summer, and who says he will be available anytime soon? Its moronic to say that he will fill the gap when Neil cant play.

    Whats funny also that they call him pure filipino when his name Alphonse and is born in France, and nothing by his name indicates that he is filipino. Is this a trick to prevent media from using the term fil-foreigner? Its been a big hype on fb and other forums to be against the term fil-foreigner, but who cares. Its only the local filipinos who is obsessed by calling them real filipinos, while i havent read anything that the players is bothered when calling them fil-foreigners.

    And to the poster above. Yes, its only the national team making big improvements. People think Philippines can be top 10 within few years, when we have no local leagues that are good enough. Even Brunei and other small asian countries have leagues that could bash the better local teams in the Philippines.

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  3. "The french goalie has already had some first team action for his club, while Neil has been so fortunate to warm the bench on a couple of occasions"

    That's a tad bit too generous to Areola. Neil has a full season's worth of competitive first team experience, albeit non-league football but first team experience is first experience especially since he's a GK not an outfield player. To add, Neil already has 26 full international caps even if it's just for the Philippines. But ya, I agree that Areola would have more potential.

    "Let him be and ask him again in 5-8 years if he still hasnt made it for the french national team!"

    Again, fully agreed. If we want to call-up another foreign based GK then the best we could after Etheridge is Roland Muller, still a good prospect for the Philippines.

    "Whats funny also that they call him pure filipino when his name Alphonse and is born in France, and nothing by his name indicates that he is filipino."

    Believe or think what you'd like to but it's a fact that he is of full Filipino descent.

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  4. While Etheridge has played reserve games, Areola has played for PSG in the Emirates Cup, last was against Boca Juniors where PSG won 3-0, and he was on the field, not the bench. He has international caps for Frances` youth teams. Thats also experience. Ok, Etheridge has 1 or 2 U16 games for England, but im not being generous towards Areola. Its in the statistics.

    Etheridges chance might be bigger this coming season since Stockdale is out on loan, but Fulham has a new goalie, and he is ahead of Neil. The fact that Neil got a new contract tells that Fulham has confidence in Neil, but at his age, he should really get some real first team action, and im not talking about Ryman league, like a couple of years ago. He was out on loan last season for a couple of months, but still didnt get a chance to play. As for Areola, still very young, is getting playing time against big football clubs already.

    Ah, ok so he is of full descent. But most would still consider him as french. But filipinos are eager on these kind of issues.

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  5. Dan "The Hyena" Palami keeps trying to find dead animals or to steal others kills in Europe.

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  6. maraming mga football expert dito? hahahaha akala nila magaling na sila.

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  7. Araneta's quote of a $1500 Azkals bonus for four WCQ games says all that needs to be said about Palami's chances of signing up that PSG gk.
    Areola will be earning a lot more than that per hour in the French Premier League and would have to be out of his tree not to have ambitions of being the French nt no.1.

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  8. Let the player decide himself where he wants to play...for sure it would be great for him to be someday the French No. 1 but there's such a tough competition with so many skilled goalkeepers who want to become France's number one so the chances are quite low. So better he joins later on (when he developed his skills more at PSG)the Azkals and be maybe Pinoys number 1 or 2. Anyway we need 2 good goalkeepers....and a good one next to Neil is always welcome. I have no problems with the scouting of new and better Filiipinos abroad. When we want to keep and improve our level we need stronger players who have already a solid basis and education in football (still missing in our country) and playing football throughout the year. Also some of our players heading slowly towards the end of their carreer.....but I agree of course that we should also concentrate to develope a solid league here in the Philippines. Not only on senior level - much more also for the youth and juniors. And we must act fast in this affair and put a lot of effort (which is still missing) into it.

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  9. many promising players in the philppines, who get proper training from the age of 6 or 7 yrs old, in schools that have football clubs with licensed coaches, reach their peak playing days in high school and from then on this tapers off. its a pity that all their training goes to waste and all this due to lack of a solid professional league that they can look forward to.

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  10. there must be soon a pro or semi-pro league.....(like the poster above said) that the talent of the youth doesn't get waste and they have a goal......and if they are good enough maybe then they have a chance as well to go to abroad (at least in the SEA region)

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  11. How competitive are we without Guirado, Jonsson, Gier, Etheridge, Mulders, Schrock, Ott, and Lucena?

    We will see in the following months how competitive the azkals really are when the stars of the team cant make it because of club commitments. If we field a team of local players, tapped from leagues in the Philippines, and play against a team from Singapore, Thailand etc. How do you think the azkals will cope against those team? They wont stand a chance.

    I feel sorry for the talents in the Philippines who are left out in the cold. Their only chance is to play for the U16-U19 and maybe U23, but U23 looks like will be filled with players from abroad.

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  12. ^^i agree with you....right now we aren't competitive without our foreign based players. our local players even would have big problems to get a proper result vs. minnows like Timor Leste not to speak from Thailand or Singapore. Then we would have times again like 1 or 2 decades ago were we were kicked from out of the stadion with big defeats....so i guess no-one would like to have those times back. So we need our foreign base players and if possible (and available) even find stronger ones than the ones available right now. The talents can show their potential in U-23, U-19 etc. and if they are as good as some foreign based players they will for sure get their chance.

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  13. "If we field a team of local players, tapped from leagues in the Philippines, and play against a team from Singapore, Thailand etc. How do you think the azkals will cope against those team? They wont stand a chance."

    I agree. Go back to November of last year, when the national team when to Thailand for a training camp and they played 2nd division team Nakhon Pathom FC and lost 8-0! Apart from a few players, we fielded an all homegrown team! That's how bad the level of local football is.

    "I feel sorry for the talents in the Philippines who are left out in the cold. Their only chance is to play for the U16-U19 and maybe U23, but U23 looks like will be filled with players from abroad."

    Feel sorry?? What for? You're basically telling everyone that there should be local/homegrown players for the sake of having local/homegrown players, specifically in the senior national team. That's just plain stupid!

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  14. Even if the chance of having alphonse play for us is slim, isn't it still worthwhile to talk to the lad? Some of the guys here underestimate the patriotic fervor of these foreign-based and trained players. Have faith guys, there's no harm in trying. It's not about the money, alphonse is already making millions (i presume), and he knows playing for phil is not a lucrative move. But with these guys, you never know what motivates them.

    As for the development of football in the philippines, it's not the job of the azkals and their management. It's the job of the PFF and the local FAs. So stop criticizing the azkals and the management. Instead, tell your FAs to work their ass off.

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