08 March 2019

Azkals begin quest for World Cup berth in Bangkok

By:  - Reporter

Raring to continue its improvement, the Philippines will expand its talent pool as it prepares for the next cycle of World Cup qualifying beginning in September.
After losing all three matches against higher-ranked opponents in their first AFC Asian Cup appearance in January in the United Arab Emirates, the Azkals are now setting their sights on making a strong push for qualification to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Azkals manager Dan Palami said the road to Qatar begins with a weeklong training camp in Bangkok starting March 18.
Palami said there will be 42 players in the pool with the majority of them newcomers to the Azkals pool.
“The camp gives us an opportunity to really take a closer look at new players who can represent not just the senior team, but also the Under-22 team for the Southeast Asian Games,” said Palami.


Read more: https://sports.inquirer.net/340942/azkals-begin-quest-for-world-cup-berth-in-bangkok#ixzz5hYnwDbOD

22 comments:

  1. the azkals do not represent Philippine football. they represent Europe :)

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    1. You are talking nonsense brother.. Philippine football(or should i say Maharlika football) does not exist, it is just a dream that is far from reality(sad to say).. without this azkals, there is nothing to talk about in this so called Philippine football. The reality is we are 99.9% basketball, & its hard to lure kids from the remaining .1 to any sport other than basketball, because its the only sport that filipinos really understood very well.. #re·al·i·ty check

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    2. It exist. Chieffy Caligdong was there, Ian Araneta was there when Miracle of Hanoi happened. Imbes na unti unti bibigyan ng exposure ang mga homegrowns mas lalong itong nawala sa hanay ng starting eleven sa Azkals at siyam na taon mula sa historical event na yun ay wala pa ring pagbabago ang approach ng PFF. At sumikat ba nang todo ang football mula noon ? I don't think so. Reality check din muna..

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    3. Anonymous9 March 2019 at 07:41 so who did pick up the mantle of that generation?? Ask yourselves first, who are todays Araneta, Caligdong, Sacapanio, Borromeo etc. or who are near at there level on todays current local breads? You got to deal with reality here if you are the PFF, our youth are in shambles & we are not fighting guerilla warfare anymore, this is a conventional one against the Koreans, Chinese, Japs, or Aussies along with our old tormentors Vietnam & Thailand(so we need bigger guns against these guys, so that we will not be massacred again like in the old days). these are no longer the Mongolians, Guam, Myanmar, Laos, Maldives, Nepal, Kuwait or Yemen etc. stakes are higher, expectations are higher but the number of football followers(& the local prospects) & the funds needed for that kind of big campaign is lower than before. Anyway dont throw away what the current PFF leadership has achieved in this current era, we have come from being 179 in the world to our highest ever rank 111. This Azkals era just run out of ammo, but give respect not always hate. Give credit to what is due, i think an era is about to end & the PFF is exploring into a new era of Philippine football. And hopefully a new Araneta, Caligdong, Sacapanio, Borromeo, Doctora would emerge, I pray to GOD Almighty so that all that we have achieved so far will not just go into waste & spend decades waiting for another meracle to happen.

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    4. Miracles don't always happen. What PFF needs is a system where all training method and style of play falls in order from Youth to Men's/womens team. We cannot rely continuosly with an all Foreign born pinoys playing in the Azkals because they have different upbringings and have different languages. Their style of play will truly affect the principle of being laid down. It will create biases and divisions to our local born players if we always prioritize them. Let us put a system now ASAP starting from the youth, then to YFL , to UAAP/NCAA and then to Senior Men's and Women's team. We only get foreign borns unless he is really that good in Europe/Asia/America and in a certain position where no local is fit for it. WE can chase stastical wins for FIFA and AFC/AFF rankings but it will not matter if we don't produce quality players on our own home soil. The quality and strength of a football nation is it's homegrowns and how are they playing abroad. Not the other way around.

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  2. I cannot understand why training needs to be outside the PI. Why not Manila? It looks like the only incentive to join the training is to be in some fancy location. Again, the strategy is to attract foreign players able to get a Philippine passport.

    Losing all 3 group plays in the Asian Cup 2019 competition, the odds of making it the World Cup is slim to NONE. There are 46 teams competing for maximum of 5 positions.

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    1. Anonymous8 March 2019 at 19:05 spot on. Palami is only good in sweet talks but not doing anything to uplift the "Philippine" Football. Still, his main band aid solution is to attract all Foreign born pinoys to represent our flag and country.

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    2. "It looks like the only incentive to join the training is to be in some fancy location."
      Anyway, somebody is getting an all expenses paid vacation in Thailand. Leave it to the Pinoys for some creative boondoggle.
      I have a better idea, why not Paris, France at PSG's training ground. Alphonse Areola could sign autographs and give pep talk on why it is important to play for your own country, or better yet NOT your country. Take showers at same place as Neymar, Di Maria. and Cavani.

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    3. Lol it is not Palami's job to train the youth. That is the PFF's responsibility.

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    4. Palami is one of the board members of PFF and put in charge of Azkals, U22/23, U19 and U18. It shows you don't know his background and just a plain Palami worshipper because of that "Miracle " in Hanoi? LOL!! Pathetic..

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  3. We all like constructive critism but some of the comments above are very naive and somehow too personal. All I can say is without Dan Palami Philippine football would be non exist ant. From the bottom of my heart as a big fan of football, thank you Mr Palami carry on what you are doing cause you are doing an excellent job.

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  4. Palami should be criticized because the areas where he is right don't make up for the situations where he gets it wrong.

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    1. Palami should be hanged for his crimes.. He should be replace by a new patron, a richer one in Mr.Jefferson Cheng, the savior of Philippine football..

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    2. You mean the guy who threw a tantrum and withdrew his club from the PFL just because he was not given organization rights for the PFL despite obvious conflict of interest of such a setup. Hope you are being sarcastic...

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    3. Anonymous14 March 2019 at 06:19 actually i was being sarcastic brother... you see i can't understand these people who act like watchdogs, waiting for failures & put every blame on Mr.Palami or the PFF itself(making them like scapegoats). They have all done there part & there is nothing more that they can do better, because the society that we live in is largely to blame.. We proudly call motherland a basketball nation, & it makes the PFF job harder. Lack of interest follows lack of logistics & revenues just for the survival of the sport in the country, we rely so much on the goodwill of FIFA & the AFC. But sad to say it won't be enough for the survival of the sport, shortage of players & talent is one thing, fans and supporters is another thing & the most important of all in any sport is patronage and sponsorship. We lack all that & we a minority are large divided, each has comflicting opinions on how to run things around in our leadership for the sport. Indeed the PFF rely to much on half breeds for the past decade because it works and its the only quality that we have to be able to compete at international level, but now the waters run dry, an era is likely to end with no quality replacements. What now people? Can anybody know how to fix these mess? I suppose you know better?But please just give a healthy opinion & talk in a civilized manner, trolling around wont help us all because at the end of the day, we are just minorities in a Basketball country & the vast majority dont even care about the sport that we love, i think we need each other for the survival of the beautiful game. God Bless PEACE

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  5. original commenter here at Anonymous8 March 2019 at 15:06. i don't think Palami can be blamed a lot. his mentality basically us, I already do everything for the NT, why expect me to pour money on the grassroots as well? but neither is Palami also a saint. if you manage the NT, at least there's money there and you can at least break even sometimes. but in supporting the grassroots, that's a guaranteed cash outflow. too bad you can't develop football without supporting, and losing money in, the grassroots. but anyway, the Azkals zuck. i really used to be a believer. but 10 years of being represented mostly by Europeans makes you see the Azkals for the joke it really is.

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  6. Anonymous14 March 2019 at 11:01- you said
    " but now the waters run dry, an era is likely to end with no quality replacements. What now people? Can anybody know how to fix these mess?" How do you know it runs dry? Are you viewing Philippine Premier League Football Fans United in FB? Do you realize there are many people there who keeps on presenting Foreign players like Jesse Curan of Scotland? It's not drying up those people are now overly relying foreign breed pinoys just like you. But to tell you the truth, people like you are so concern only on the statistical outcome of Azkals and not realizing our homegrowns are slowly being taken by other countries like Marco Casambre of Thailand club and Enzo Ceniza now in Denmark school and club. People like you don't have the eye to see a potential in the local players. Not all foreign are quality players and not all locals lacks the talents and skill to play in the bigger stage. You are one pathetic foreign player worshipper!!!

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    1. Anonymous14 March 2019 at 13:46 I only see World football news updates, local football news, posting footballing activities from our filipino football enthusiast with there healthy conversations online, local stadium updates & with a little Filipino Football scouting at the PPLFU fanpage but there is nothing new really & nothing to be so enthusiastic about, sorry to say... Let me ask you.. whatever side we stand.. How many are we exactly? (the total number of filipino football enthusiast, who really love the beautiful game)??? For argument's sake let us say maybe less than a million in a total 120 mil. filipino people worldwide(a good number but less than 1% of the total filipino pop. & scattered around morethan 7,000 islands), good enough for 2,000-5,000 souls at the our stadiums in every local & international football games. We as a football community are maybe a little smaller than the Singaporean or Hong Kong total pop.(city-states who are generally a football nation), & yet we argue amongs ourselves why a pioneering football nation among Asians can't even produce our local version of let us say a Chanatip, Teerasil, Nguyễn Quang Hải, Nguyễn Công Phượng, etc(ASEAN Footballing super stars). The generation which we can generally describe as the Younghusband generation, is aging, it is dying out, at there 30's, racially discriminated, not given enough credit for there contribution to the country & now largely on a diaspora in Thailand, Malaysia, etc. because of the hardship that the local football scene is experiencing right now.. It's safe to say that there era is likely to end bro, so we need to replace them for the continuity of a generaly successful era never seen before since the pre-war era.. But sadly with the things mentioned above, chances are the supposed next gen. the Holtmann, the Curran, the Nyholm, the Takahashi, etc. naturally would think twice about putting their asses in these kind of situation(I just say, i have a feeling that that would likely be the case for these guys, after the chaos at AFF Cup & AFC Asian Cup). Our Money we all know is not good enough as well. We have already been turn down by the Alaba, Areola, De Guzman bros. etc in the past(so brace yourselves filipino footbal enthusiast, what's next wont be that promising anymore, & luckily for those who opposed these kind of recruitments, its good news for you all..). So with that saying, the waters would really dry up like what the Manila Water Company is experiencing right now(So Glad to be a Maynilad water comsumer). Now who would replaced these generation let me ask you? We all know that our Youth program is in shambles... And a total overhaul of our youth system is a long and hideous process. Now what are your ideas of continued success my friend??? Let me hear yours first?

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    2. Anonymous14 March 2019 at 13:46 You call every fil-foreign player supporter one pathetic foreign player worshipper!!! Which is an extreme accusation solely based on your own sentiment and the racial prejudice you carry, you don't even consider the word overall Azkals supporter(i don't even think you call yourself an Azkals supporter because of the word itself is byword to half-bread players in there racial stack).. Yes i was so concerned about the massacres of our football teams in the past, and the way everyone call us the whipping boys of Asian football.. And yes for me Statistics and good results matters the most(whats wrong with that? Without good results football enthusiasm will die by natural causes), considering the horrors of our football history, having our half breed brothers in to fight for us is better than to just 'Hide our Women & Children' & be slaughtered by the invading hordes(if you know what i mean?).. I wasn't seeing these half breeds on how filipino they are!! I simply welcome all who would sacrifice for motherland & fight in behalf of us who can't fight for ourselves, our own battles.. I also wanted to see our best potential in these sport like our brothers in the Pinoy Hoopla community are dreaming of there own Dream Teams right now for the upcoming FIBA Basketball WC in 2019 & 2023. I know our football dreams are shattered right now, some players on our dream list never come, some would likely turn us down also & our local product are unsatisfactory sad to say, even on ASEAN standards. And in all likelihood with the impending end of the Younghusband era, we are again to be left alone to fight for ourselves in our future battles (in the FIFA,AFC,AFF,Friendlies matches etc.).. But don't think of me as your opposite, like i am a hater of our local product or local talent... Because like you i was also hoping all the success locally & internationally for the Jovin Bedic, Marco Casambre, Ian Clariño, Jarvey Gayoso, JB Borlongan, Troy Limbo, Fidel Tacardon etc. I was simply hoping for more prospects to come out...And hoping for an even greater generation of local breads similar to todays Vietnamese Golden Dragons' Golden generation.. Obcourse we can't just wait for miracles to happen, or hope for someone to grow faster & be a world class players.. Now if half-breads will choose to represent his mother country in the future should we start denying him that opportunity & say we will now focus on local talent, that's unfair!! Local breed or half breed, they must have equal opportunity, & the Nat'l selection must be solely based on the quality of a footballer. If you are concern about the superiority of the talents of the foreign breeds, we should focus on developing quality local talent instead of just scraping the fil-foreign recruitment program. Now regarding on how to overhaul our youth system, it is another long debate of its own. First and foremost more Kids should enroll in the PFF's grassroots program. More quality coaching, more improvement of our football infrastructure, success of the PPL(in which its member clubs would give our local talents there employment) and i don't think you'll like the sound of this, but we need more Palami's(an MVP or RSA patronizing football something like that).

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    3. Also for me one thing is clear, as Anonymous10 March 2019 at 08:07(whoever he is?) mention above - 'Let us put a system now ASAP starting from the youth, then to YFL , to UAAP/NCAA and then to Senior Men's and Women's team. We only get foreign borns unless he is really that good in Europe/Asia/America and in a certain position where no local is fit for it.'

      First i would like to say to you, are you kidding me? I have a problem about these UAAP/NCAA-YFL programs coexisting.. Do you think these YFL is just from U7 to U16 program? then go to college(UAAP & NCAA) & divide his footballing dreams by studying to be a dentist or an engineer, architect, MBA or whatever. Not that it is a bad thing to prioritize study time & earn a degree, but if you really wanna be a professional footballer at the highest level you must fast track your development as a footballer & enroll at La Fábrica, La Masia or let us just say our local version namely KAYA ELITE, CERES YOUTH FC, MENDIOLA FC 1991, MSA FC, GREEN ARCHERS UNITED, STALLION FC etc. Under-18 is a critical age, look at Vietnam for example, their Nat'l coach trust their youth because they are that good.. Ronaldo Nazario, Ronaldinho Gaucho, Thierry Henry, Cristiano Ronaldo & rival Lionel Messi to Neymar all come out and rise to stardom at this critical young age, they are not 22/23yr old college degree holder, samething to todays Kylian Mbappé, Dele Alli, Leroy Sane, Marco Asensio, Ousmane Dembélé, Jadon Sancho, Gabriel Jesus, Vinícius Júnior, Timo Werner etc. One of the most obvious yet also one of the hardest to change in the current footballing setup in the Philippines is, Football Academy System over the hundred year old Traditional School Varsity System in the country(UAAP,NCAA, etc.)? American Varsity Style youth football or UEFA style youth system model? College degree or professional football? We know which is better right? But we have to make a choice!!

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    4. It’s easy to do finger-pointing as to what needs to be done for the junior squads to improve in their level of competitiveness in international tournaments. Some insist better preparation time is needed, while others point out that schools and mother clubs should release their students or players for national team trainings and duties, others say the PFF must pour more resource on the youth programs, as if the solution to the problem is that simple. But for me, with the current state of the Philippines’ grassroots programs, there needs a series of changes in youth development from a footballing perspective – MASSIVE CHANGES, MAJOR overhaul of the system. And to be precise, we need to abolished Traditional School Varsity System in place of a fully integrated Football Academy System. Or the other alternative for the UAAP & NCAA school programs, is they should joint the YFL besides running there own league.. If the PFF is to overhaul our youth football system, it must deal with these hundred year old varsity style youth football to fully integrate the YFL in our youth system. These Varsity style are only hindering the fast track development of our youth footballers, first they have a different scheduling system, with only 14-16 matches a year, & the school resources divided on a number of sports programs(First Basketball, then Volleyball, Athletics etc.), with smaller schools don't even have a football program. Also the UAAP/NCAA(NCRFA based) stranglehold as being the major source of local talents, subordinates or reduce the role of the true major source of local talents that is Iloilo(Panay) FA, NOFA, NOSIRFA, CVRFA, DRFA etc. These current setup push them closer to extinction. What ever happens to the USLS, Barotac Nuevo FC, Jaro FC, Sta.Barbara, I, Pagasa, San Carlos FC, Dumaguete FC, Queen City Utd., Hiroshi FC, Don Bosco, UC–ERCO–BRO Nationals, With the PFF National Men's Club Championship long gone & Club football move back to NCRFA based, no formal 2nd tier league, no 3rd tier, no football pyramid whatsoever. Worst things are coming to regional programs.. Regional meets are not good enough, regional programs must have bigger roles for there sustainability. We know that one problem leads to another, one challenge after another. Improving the quality of coaching, training and development, infrastructure etc. of our current YFL youth programs is another question, but one thing must be done, it must move closer at the youth level of Thailand and Vietnam(La Fábrica & La Masia level is unrealistic, we all know that..out of the question). Lastly, the problem of all the problems that we are facing.. Money matters!! We know that limited resources push us back to square one. We are on the brink.. Now unless money also starts following back in & we go back to have a National League, Restore the national club championship besides the League Cup, & the YFL be spread out not just based on NCR. Unless these things happen local football development will be slow & unsustainable, narrow(limited in extent) & shallow(little depth in talent)..Now that lead us to another problem, but that story would be on an entirely different time..

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  7. LOL @ all the essays that's been posted!!

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