- From:
HARDLY satisfied with the Azkals’ latest achievement, Philippine men’s football team manager Dan Palami is setting his sights on the next frontier.
After the team notched a new all-time high in Fifa ranking of 137th on Friday, the 43-year-old sports advocate and businessman who has bankrolled the Azkals since 2010, wants to breach the next barrier.
“I want to reach the top one hundred,” Palami said in a chat with scribes after trade launch ofSpin.ph Thursday night at Urbn Bar and Kitchen. “Alam mo naman ako, I want to set the bar high.”
The latest jump in ranking allowed the Azkals to overtake Thailand as the top team in Southeast Asia. The computation took into consideration the results of the last three years, but has yet to take in the results of the Philippine Peace Cup, which the Filipino booters defended.
Philippine Football Federation general secretary Ed Gastanes expressed delight about the team’s latest milestone, but rued the irony that the Azkals may be the top team in the region, and yet the Under-23 team will not participate in the upcoming Southeast Asian Games.
“It is ironic because as we have made clear several times before, seven players of the U-23 are members of the Azkals and with the addition of the budding local football stalwarts, our U-23 is a competitive team for the SEA Games,” Gastanes said in a chat with Spin.ph at the PFF office a day later.
“Unfortunately, POC (Philippine Olympic Committe) officials saw it differently,” the lawyer added.
Moving forward, Gastanes believes Palami’s new aim is achievable.
“That is always a good target,” Gastanes said. “I can go along with that target because if we continue to play and continue to win then that is not a far target.”
To achieve it, the Filipino booters not only have to keep winning, they also have to beat strong opponents.
And that’s exactly why they’ll face 71st-ranked United Arab Emirates on November 9 and fellow Middle East squad India (154th) on Nov. 15 in two Fifa international friendlies.
The PFF also wants to take advantage of the Fifa match date of Nov. 19 as they are eyeing another higher-ranked foe in New Caledonia (126th), which was one of the countries invited to participate in the Peace Cup, but declined due to conflict in schedule.
“In the next few days, we’ll try to find an opponent for the Azkals in the Philippines, but we cannot announce until it is sure,” Gastanes said.
spin
Again, continuing to climb the rankings especially breaking into the top 100 means jack shit when barely anything is happening domestically!
ReplyDeleteAmen to that..
DeleteRespect all those who comment that knows ranking mean shit if nothing is done domestically.
DeleteLets wait for all the palami lovers to rebut your opinion.
Just love seeing their shitty comments and explanation.
Haha!!
I love you too
DeleteLove namin si Palami kasi siya lang andiyan eh. Baka kung palitan ninyo siya, instantly gagaling ang domestic league natin noh?
DeleteWhile Palami continues to 'market' the Azkals and Philippine football in general, the PFF is doing nothing to capitalize on this achievment.
ReplyDeletePhil Younghusband will be 70 yrs old if it happens.
ReplyDelete"... barely anything is happening domestically"
ReplyDeletePlease get out of your cave or under the rock you're hiding from. There's a domestic league that's growing, that by all accounts is attracting fans, advertisers, and quality players.
There is no satisfying critics. Detractors will be detractors. Even Even though we've breached the 140th rank which is in its self a milestone. These people will never be staisfied. We already have a domestic league which by itself in its "grassroots". Like our NT rhe league has surpassed so many expectations and continously proven its naysayers wrong. What ever we do or say cannot change theses peoples minds. No matter what success the league or NT achieves will not change thier stance.
Deletepasalamat kayo at may mga kritiko ang Pilipinas Football. Hindi mag i improve ang isang team o liga kung wlang kritiko.
DeleteBtw, hindi kami kontento sa numero kundi sa isang kampeonato na karapat dapat sa isang mahusay na koponan. Pinaghirapang itinanim sa lupang sinilangan at sa bansang ito nanggagaling, pinalaki at nagbunga ng magandang produkto para isalang , ibenta at ipagmalaki sa buong daigdig.
tama ka dyan,wla eh puro sa filforeigner umaasa ano tingin nya sa mga pinoy footballer mangmang kailangan lng ng exposure na high quality na kalaban at suporta hindi pangbabaliwala ni dan patlami baliw na sya sa numero hindi sa karangalan ng mga kababayan nya lol.....
ReplyDeleteU mean a league that has no transfer rules and regulation?? Sanchez case is an example.
ReplyDeleteHow many players in global are not foreigners??
What grassroot, what league? Oh, you mean the UFL. United Foreigners League? This is the first league ive seen, a league in its first years as a semi-pro league where foreigners are dominating the rosters. Most of you will say its positive, but think again. Is it really positive?
ReplyDeletePhilippine football can only show one thing, and thats the azkals. Ok, Global did have a good run in an international tournament. But take away all their foreigners and what do they have left? Whipping boys of Asia. We even lost to Chinese Taipei, and we had a really good squad for that tournament.
Top 100? Forget about it. Focus on something that matters instead. Ive always said it, and that is that Palami is really focused on the FIFA rankings. You wanna make top 100? Then get 15 more players of Schrocks level. Good luck with that.
Its really funny to see the azkals as the best SEA nation, when the fact is that we are behind them in all aspects. We have to rely on Palamis big pocket, and fil-foreigners, while the rest of our neighbours can field top notch homegrown players, as for we, dont have any, not even close.
Guisso, el habbib, starosta, Sanchez (pending ruling), Kama, sadia, Yao and hoshide. 8 foreign players that's only around 30% plus 8 or 9 players with Filipinos with dual nationality in a squad of 26 is still a healthy mix. That's comparable to a fifth tier club ( conference premier) like Barnet who have 9 non English players in their line up, 5 players with both English and other nationalities in a squad of 24 or another club like wrexham which has 10 players born outside England and another 10 players 2 nationalities English and that of another.
ReplyDeleteThat's the reality of the modern game. Name a club professional or semi pro that does not have at least 1 foreign born player in its roster. Now we even have a Filipinos players plying their trade in football league of an asean country.
"Professional football" is still in its infancy and it's still experiencing growing pains. We can only be patient and hope for the best.
Now if one loathes a club or a personality so much the best thing that we can do is to support a club of a team that rivals them.
Or maybe clamor for a team to be created and be one of a "proud" few like Guadalajara of Mexico, el national of equador or one like Bilbao that has a policy of hire only basques (not considering their nationally) or one can go the one can go to the extreme like that of beitar Jerusalem a club that has never hired an Arab player.
With the advent of professional or semi pro football, we now have a choice which club or team we support. Support a club that is to ones liking. A club that has the best "youth" program, a club that limits that number of foreigners. Or if the is no club that catches your attention creat one your self. one could find a benefactor will Crate a club that has an all- Filipino policy or one could even also go exclusive to one region.
If we compare our league to england because they welcome so many foreigners and become the best league in the world then goodluck to that. Because right now England is in dilemma as to who will follow the 'golden generations' of Frank Lampard, gerrard, rooney and others when they retire because only few english players are in the starting lineups with only few minutes subs to some due to foreigners who are exceptionally good than them. Their FA wants to limit the number of foreigners in the league , not only it steals the job of their locals but their quest for another World Cup since 1966 is very bleak. And these will happen to the Philippine football if we continue to hire foreigners to the UFL. Our players not only need playing time but also their 'jobs' to earn a living. Wla na nga ibang trabaho yung iba , pinamimigay pa sa taga abroad.
ReplyDeleteHope this comment knock some sense to anoymous 21:08 who is blabbering about gobalisation in football.
DeleteLook at spain because they are playing local in their league how many squad rotation their national team can have.
What rotation does azkals have??
Its always the same players every game.
Even agaisnt team like pakistan you need to bring back all the stars before you can kick them.
Knock some sense? Globalization? (That's another topic) Spain playing in their locally league? Get your facts straight. the last time Spain played in the WC qualifiers around 30% of their squad suited up for a club outside Spain notably silva, navas and negredo who in fact all play for one club man city.
DeleteOne must be reminded that Del bosque only called up a total of 40 player to thier squad 16 of which played outside Spain. That's around 40% of the total roster. Another factoid is that the total percentage of foreigners playing is close to 30% of the entire Spanish league system from total player base of 2800 in all 4 tiers. And 40% of the players in the Spanish premiera are foreigners and yet they've won almost everything for the last eight years, and are still ranked number one in the FIFA ranking and 2nd in the ELO.
In contrast you have England, which has not won any major trophy since 1966, but this is not due to the influx of foreigners. From 66 to the mid 1990 ( pre bosman) there was a 3 foreigner cap on every club team in the whole european continent. If anyone would use the influx of foreign players in the football league as a barometer for Englands lack of success at international level then conversely England should have won every major trophy prior to bosman.
Here in our country we had Many experiments in the past as far as establishing a league. We had first the failed MPFL, a competition patterned to the MLS even with the introduction of an draft system. And another failed attempt was the P-league which was a loose copy of the j-league. Both competitions failed miserably and lasted barley a year. This was probably due to the lack of sponsorship, tv coverage and basically a lack of interest form the public.
Football is not just about player development, a grassroots programme, one has to generate public interest, financial support and commercial value. The football alliance or what ever these group is called have brought in a much needed jolt to the sport in terms of finance, the azkals have also give a boost to the commercial viability for the game. Today there is a torrent of sponsor that may result in the expansion of the league. a long term stadia deal with one of the largest real estate companies. This recipe seems to be working. Why change the formula if it has brought some success.
Having a cap on foreigners playing in the league is a welcome inclusion, But I don't think it would be best for the league as a whole to discriminate on Filipinos regardless from where they were born of Filipinos of mix heritage. They are Filipinos plain and simple. We have a huge overseas population that is growing larger by the day showing bias to Filipinos of mix heritage is not only immoral but on the surface can have detrimental effect of the sport.
Now, If you consider playing football profession then these jobs must have some value it? And club and it's shareholder must recoup its investments in one form or another. Now if you were an owner of a club like any business wouldn't you give a job to the person who is most qualified.
hindi nman masama ang may import at fil-foreigner kasi sila ang nagbibigay ng experience sa mga locals dapat balanse lng like for example 4 foreigner 2 fil-foreigner,at 5 locals including goal keeper dba para ganahan nman maglaro at magsikap ang mga locals natin sana maisip ni patlami yan o kya mapanaginipan nya lol.......
ReplyDelete6+5 (6 locally homegrown and 5 mix fil-foreign or foreigner) would be a good idea in every game. Para may balanse naman...
ReplyDelete