Azkals team manager Dan Palami suspended for four matches

1. Pursuant to Article 18.4 read together with Article 49.1 (a) of the AFC Disciplinary Code (Code), Mr. Dan Stephen Castillo Palami (AFC/43463/PHI) is suspended for FOUR (4) matches which includes the one (1) match automatic suspension arising from his expulsion from the match Palestine vs. Philippines on 30 May 14

2. The four (4) match suspension is to be carried over in accordance with Article 38.2 (a) of the Code.

3. Pursuant to Article 49.2 of the Code, Mr. Dan Stephen Castillo Palami (AFC/43463/PHI) is ordered to pay a fine of USD1,000/- to be settled within 30 days from the date that this decision is communicated in accordance with Article 15.3 of the Code.

4. Mr. Dan Stephen Castillo Palami (AFC/43463/PHI) is reminded that his suspension may be prolonged until the fine has been paid in full in accordance with Article 19.5 of the Code.

5. Mr. Dan Stephen Castillo Palami (AFC/43463/PHI) is informed that a repeat violation of this provision will be met with more severe punishment.

http://www.the-afc.com/en/component/jdownloads/finish/68/335.html

Why Dan Palami was thrown out in Challenge Cup final

By Camille B. Naredo, ABS-CBNnews.com

MANILA, Philippines -- The Philippine Azkals were down 0-1 to Palestine in the finals of the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup when team manager Dan Palami was shockingly sent off to the stands in the 70th minute of the match.

"In the many years that I've been with the Azkals, that was the first time I've been thrown out of a game," Palami said Tuesday during a press conference celebrating the Azkals' return.

TJ Manotoc of ABS-CBN News tweeted that Palami was sent off for excessive complaining, and the Azkals manager was forced to watch from the stands as the team failed to get an equalizer and settled for a second-place finish in the tournament.

Days after the heartbreaking defeat, Palami explained his side of the story.

"We were shouting at the referees," he admitted. "There were a lot of non-calls. Patrick (Reichelt) was dribbling, he didn't fall down, but you could hear from the sidelines the number of times he was hit by Palestine players."

"There were balls that were outside already, but the linesman didn't call them," he added.

Palami said it was the Azkals' assistant coaches who were repeatedly shouting at the referees, and have been warned several times by the officials.

"Finally, in exasperation, I clapped and I said, 'Good job, referee, good job!' I didn't know it was a cause for a red card when you say, 'Good job, referee,'' Palami said, drawing laughter from the members of the team as well as the assembled media.

Palami admitted that he tried to "squirm out of" the red card by sticking close to one of the assistant coaches in an attempt to confuse the referees.

The referees would not be denied, however, and pointed to him.

"'That guy,' he said, 'You clapped and said good job,' and the referee said, 'You go,'" Palami related, adding that he had to pay a $600 fine as well.

Palami chalked it up to experience -- one of the many firsts that they had in the course of the tournament.


"It was an experience. There were a lot of first times, and that was also the first time and hopefully that would be the last," he said.

Palami says record No. 133 world ranking proves Azkals heading in right direction

• From: Karlo Sacamos

WHEN Dan Palami first took over the reign of the Philippine men’s football team in early 2010, he envisioned a minimum of five years before the group considered as minnow internationally can reach the top spot in the Southeast Asian rankings.

Only three years after and the Filipino booters are now the benchmark of Asean football.

The Azkals manager could not be any more proud.

“That was the goal (five years) I had set for myself,” Palami told Spin.ph on Friday over the phone from Cebu where he catered to his family who recently evacuated from native Tacloban after the province was ravaged by super-typhoon Yolanda.

“And to have achieved that before the five-year period gives me some pleasure and somehow allows me to think that we’ve been running the national team properly,” added the 43-year-old businessman, the CEO of APT Global Inc, a railway engineering company that handles the maintenance of LRT 1 and 2 in Manila.

The Azkals continued their rise to international relevance on Thursday when they jumped four spots to their best-ever Fifa (International Football Federation) ranking in history at 133rd in the world.

The Filipinos maintained their lead over fellow Southeast Asian teams Myanmar (140th), Thailand (142nd), Singapore (154th), Malaysia and Vietnam (158th), Indonesia (162nd), Laos (163rd), Cambodia (188th), Brunei (189th), and Timor Leste (189th).

On a larger scale, Palami, said the latest ranking, which takes into consideration the tournament results of the last few months and the last three years, is an affirmation of the hard work the team has put in.

“I think this rank serves as a confirmation of what we have been saying that the Philippines could really be one of the powerhouses in Southeast Asia and even Asia.

“But we cannot rest on being number one,” the Azkals boss was quick to add. “At the end of the day, being number one is not enough. We have to prove ourselves on the pitch. We have to play according to how we are ranked. And that’s what we’ll continue to do.”

To sustain their rise, Palami said he and the Philippine Football Federation are looking at a tournament in Saudi Arabia against “strong club teams and an MLS (Major League Soccer) side” for the Azkals in January.

The celebrated team has also confirmed its attendance in a four-nation invitational tournament in Pakistan in February.

Palami has been in and out of the Queen City of the South since Yolanda struck and left thousands of people dead and missing to coordinate evacuation and relief efforts.

He is back in Cebu also to celebrate his parents’ wedding anniversary and his father’s successful heart operation.

spin.ph

Hans On - What Dan Palami Has Done for Philippine Football

Weiss, Palami, Y’husband told to clear selves

By Cedelf P. Tupas
Philippine Daily Inquirer

NATIONAL coach Michael Weiss, manager Dan Palami and player James Younghusband have been given 10 days to explain why they should not be sanctioned for the incident that led to the filing of sexual harrasment charges by AFC match commissioner Cristy Ramos.

Speaking after a hearing on the case, appeals committee chair Gregorio Larrazabal last night told the Inquirer that they are in no rush to rule on the case as they “want to be sure we’ll understand all the arguments.”

The committee also includes lawyers Jorenz Tanada and Armand Sebastian.

The Azkals were in Malacañang last night to pay a courtesy call on President Aquino.

The panel suspended the penalties on the three last week since they were not included in the Ramos complaint.

Ramos only filed the complaint against players Lexton Moy and Angel Guirado for their actions in the prematch inspection during the Malaysia-Philippines friendly last February.

The two players have been cleared of the charges, but were suspended for a “breakdown in discipline.”

Weiss and Palami also appealed their two-match suspensions by the disciplinary committee which sanctioned them along with Younghusband for “failure of leadership.”

inquirer.net

Limpag: Dan Palami’s eight-year itch

By Mike T. Limpag

Fair Play

Sunday, July 29, 2012
IT’S going to be a safe bet that the minute the Philippines steps into the field in the Suzuki Cup group stage in Thailand, a commentator, or the fans in the stands, will be thinking of the same thing—will the Azkals duplicate their 2010 success?
And can the team handle the pressure to duplicate that? Right now, coach Michael Weiss is helping ease the pressure a bit by telling fans to temper their expectations because the Azkals are no longer a surprise package.

“Of course we are pressured,” Dan Palami said. “We don’t have a choice. We can either let it get under our skin or use it as our motivation.”
And the draw in the Suzuki Cup hasn’t been kind to the Philippines, as getting grouped
with Thailand and Vietnam meant “we will be up against teams we haven’t faced in a while. We will be in an unfamiliar territory.”
Since that breakthrough success, the Azkals have faced and lost to Singapore, 2-0, drew Malaysia twice and Indonesia once. The last time we met Thailand ended in a 4-0 loss in 2007, while Vietnam gets reminded of that 2-0 loss every time the Philippines is mentioned in international news.
The team, of course, will be sending scouts to the Thailand and Vietnam friendlies, but aside from that, Dan said, “We have to focus on our preparation instead of looking at the other teams’ preparations.”
Part of the preparation are a series of camps--in the US and Bahrain. And Dan said the camps, criticized as a traveling road show by veteran writer Ricky Olivares, are needed.
The only way to get better, Dan said, is to have these camps and all these games, which, as of now, are not going to be half of Coach Weiss’s targeted 20-game preparation before the Suzuki Cup. The team will have nine--two in the US, three in the September friendlies, three in the Paulino Alcantara Cup (formerly Long Teng Cup) and another one in Cebu.
All these games and all these camps mean some clubs in the UFL, and perhaps, too, those who want to organize a game like the Clear Dream match, are going to cry foul with all the time these players are missing in action.
And I think this club vs. country argument, which is in its infancy in the Philippines, is one that will be talked about for years and years and it is going to
be one where anyone on both sides of the argument could be right.
With Phil and James Younghusband, and some of the Azkals in top tier European clubs missing out, the camps and games will be a chance to narrow the gap, skills and experience-wise, between the locals and the European Azkals.
For now, the camps serve as a band-aid solution in bridging this gap because Dan said it’s going to be an eight-year wait, pointing to the contrasting fates of the Under 22 and Under 14 teams. Dan said he told the PFF Board of Governors that the Under 22 team, and its recent string of losses, reflected the true state of Philippine football.
“These are the same guys who also lost in the U19. This is the true face of Philippine football and, we have to admit, our Under 22, 21, 19 and 17, napabayaan na talaga,” he said.
The Little Azkals, which had a string of decent finishes, represents the future and the seven-year wait between now and the time the players get good enough to be members of the senior squad could mean the length of time we have to rely on the Neil Etheridges, Stephan Shrocks of the Filipino diaspora.
“That’s why it’s very important that we sustain the program of the Under 14, it has to continue,” Dan said.
(www.cebufootball.blogspot.com)

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on July 30, 2012.

DAN PALAMI, THE PFF AND U22 TEAM DEBACLE

By Eric Dimzon


While Dan Palami was busy celebrating Global FC’s victory in the UFL, his other team, the U22 Philippine team, was suffering humiliating losses in the AFC U22 2013 Qualifiers. The U22 Philippine team, of which Dan Palami is the designated team manager, lost heavily and miserably to Myanmar (5-1), Malaysia (7-0), Vietnam (9-0) and South Korea (10-0).
Clearly, the huge setbacks indicate the total lack of preparation of the U22 team. The Philippine Football Federation and Dan Palami should be held accountable for the extremely poor showing of the team. For one, PFF and Dan Palami give too much attention to the senior Azkals team. National teams without Azkal players are pretty much relegated to the background and virtually ignored. It is quite disconcerting for Dan Palami to virtually abandon his team. Being the team manager, Palami should at the very least be physically present during the games. But then again, the U22 team does not have prized Azkal players in its fold. Hence, his absence from the matches.
The humiliating losses of the team likewise show the utter lack of an effective grassroots program of PFF and Dan Palami. The propensity of PFF and Dan Palami to recruit half breeds to beef up national football teams has resulted to the non-improvement of young homegrown players. Hence, when local homegrown players get to represent the country in international tournaments, they falter and crumble due to inexperience and total lack of training.
It will greatly benefit Philippine football to have sports officials who truly have the heart and vision to see the sport soar to greater heights. Enough of sports officials who love the hollow publicity and limelight that are media-generated. Philippine football needs selfless visionaries who can contribute significantly to the improvement of homegrown players and FIFA ranking of the country. The country ultimately needs sports officials who do not equate Philippine football solely with the glamour and glitz of the senior Azkals team and its Fil-foreigners.

thehotdogstand.net

Apologies and next step for Philippine football

Monday, November 28, 2011

Dan Stephen Palami
Manager, PH Azkals

YOU'RE right, we could’ve done better.

Does Gloria Arroyo deserve to be placed under house arrest? Cast your vote.

After our much-maligned outing in the 2011 Southeast Asian Games, this became my matter-of-fact reply to the deluge of questions and criticisms--my skin has never grown so thick, so fast.

I don’t have all the answers, so from mild to scathing rebukes, I read the myriad reviews and their long comment threads. The gleeful (and mostly uninformed) bashing I let slide, but I carefully considered the sentiments of football players, enthusiasts and critics who are deeply invested in Philippine football. If I were still a fan and not the manager of the national team, I might have weighed in on their often-heated exchanges in the football forums.

But now, I’m in the trenches with the team, and I can’t indulge in my own frustrations. I need to quickly pick up the pieces, go back to the drawing board, and come up with the right formula (not to mention sufficient funds) for our Junior Azkals’ return in 2013. There’s the matter of continuing to build up our Senior Azkals, too. Save for the friendly game with LA Galaxy, I know expectations are high for our next tourneys. There are many who jump on the football bandwagon when the Azkals are winning, but more would pounce on our mistakes and kick us when we’re down.

Barely a year after its resurgence in the Philippines, we can’t let football slip into obscurity again so soon. As 2011 draws closer to full time, I can assure fans and critics that the blueprint for next year includes at least the following:

1.) Much better and lengthier preparation. Going into the SEA Games, we knew we weren’t as prepared as our regional rivals. They had the advantage of two years grassroots training at the very least, while the new PFF administration was just getting its own off the ground. We were able to organize the U23 around May, which is when I took on management of the team. Despite the tight schedule, I must emphasize that it wasn’t a rag-tag team we pooled together. We had some of the best individual players in the tournament: standouts from the U23 Suzuki cup, top university players, and experienced, foreign-based players. Naively, I thought that what our young team lacked in preparation and cohesion, they could compensate with the Pinoy’s never-say-die, guns-blazing attitude. But the attacks from the better-prepared teams quickly exposed our team’s vulnerabilities and eroded their confidence. We’ll use the time ahead to develop not just their physical skills, but their emotional and mental toughness for high-pressure competitions as well.

2.) We will continue to get outside reinforcement for the squad. Yes, we will continue having foreign-based Azkals, despite recurring complaints from those who play the race card. (Enough already! As Rob Gier puts it, “I don’t understand when people ask us how ‘Filipino’ we feel. The blood that runs through us runs through our ‘homegrown’ teammates. Just because we were born in another place or grew up in a different country doesn’t make us less Filipino. We feel Filipino every second of our lives.)

To put it briefly, their international training and experience sharpen our local talents’ skills and level of play, their presence helps promote local interest in football, they help generate sponsorships and funding, and they widen our international network and support.

Local and foreign-based

For the moment, while the PFF brews its grassroots programs, I choose to invest in both local and international players. As I wait for the UFL and other tournaments and trainings to develop more talents for our homegrown roster, there’s no reason not to get outside help that will make an impact now. There is no reason to discard one strategy for the other. In fact, to keep football alive, there is every reason to work on both the outside and inside now.

3.) But we will strive harder to build from the inside, with a better grassroots program.

Contrary to claims of a zero grassroots program, the initiatives taken by the new PFF administration are all part of shaping it. The PFF-Suzuki Cup U23 National Tournament helped us discover fresh talents from outside Metro Manila. It’s training eight-year-old standouts from all over the country for the AFC Under-17 Championship and World Championship in 2017 and 2019. It’s working with DFB (German Football Association), in evaluating the current state of our grassroots program and helping us shape a solid and sustainable program.

It can take time and effort to bear fruit though. A comment on the web noted that “A grassroots program entails infrastructure, funds and political will.”

It’s a long road ahead, and at times it can be quite frustrating. A thriving sport requires the concerted actions of various groups and stakeholders, but I can’t control how others participate or operate. I can hope for the best, but in the end, I can really only work on myself and on the team. In that sense, the onus falls on me and the Azkals. We have the opportunity, and responsibility to help grow the next generation of football players.

Children anywhere in the country should have easy access to football, to play and appreciate the beautiful game, and imagine a future in the sport.

If only for this wild dream, I am raring to go at it again come 2013. This time we’ll have more resources, more training, and an arsenal of hard-earned lessons to work with. If we don’t do any better despite all that’s at stake, oh well then, bring on the lynch mob.

P.S. Now you know what’s on my Christmas list: either a better finish in next SEAG, or a thicker hide for the next licking. Whatever you got listed, I hope you get it all.

Merry Christmas!


Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on November 29, 2011

Dan Palami savior of RP football

LONDON - Republic of the Philippines men's football team, popularly known as the Azkals, is back on the sports pages this past few days.


This time, for a good reason.

The Azkals are back on their winning form. The main reason for this is because they have found a new backer, Leyte Football Association's president Dan Stephen Palami.


The Azkals recently are in form as they finished second to host Laos in the elimination tournament of the Asean Football Federation (AFF) Suzuki Cup Asean Championship in Vientine Laos trailing behind Laos on goal difference to qualify for the finals in Hanoi, Vietnam in December.


They defeated East Timor, 5-0, and drew with Laos, 2-2 and eliminated Cambodia with a hard-earned scoreless draw to advance to the proper tournament on Dec. 2, 5, and 8 against Asean football powerhouses, Myanmar, host Vietnam and Singapore.


The Suzuki Cup Asean Championship was formerly known as the Tiger Cup until its former backer Tiger Beer of Singapore had been changed by Suzuki motors of Japan.


It is an exciting chapter in the Azkals history and much of the credit goes to the 40-year-old Palami. He is the CEO of Autre Porte Global Inc. (APT Global).


The giant railway engineering company is involved in the construction, operations, and maintenance of railway systems. They are involved in various capacities in LRT Line 1 and Line 2 in Manila.


Palami's association with the Azkals started sometime in December of 2009 when he was approached by the PFF to manage the Nationals. He was just fresh from handling the RP Under-19 team which was formed one month before a tournament.


The RP U-19 team was humiliated for lack of preparation but he accepted the job to manage the Azkals on the condition that he would do it in his own way and isolate himself from the political intrigues that Philippine Football Federation (PFF) is involved in.


Palami's appointment as Azkals manager is probably the only positive credit that the current PFF regime has ever made. The PFF has left him to manage the Azkals like he manages his multi-million peso company. He is a hands on boss and he is always around when there are matches and when they need financial and material support.


Palami is involved in the recruitment of the players and the first thing he did when he was appointed was to get local players and hire a foreign coach to infuse system that could work for the Azkals in short term basis.


British Des Bulfin took charge immediately but was replaced this year by the youthful Simon MacMenemy of England.


Palami then recruited the locals led by the prolific centre defender and skipper Aly Borromeo and Anton del Rosario of Kaya FC, plus Philippine Airforce reliables, winger Chieffy Caligdong, striker Ian Araneta, defender Rey Palmes and the ageless Yanti Bersales.


Other players recruited from local teams include goalkeepers, 16-year-old Christopher Camcam from Southridge FC, and veteran Eduard Sacapano of Philippine Army, defenders Jerry Barbaso, Michael Atienza and Kristopher Relocio of Laos FC, midfielders Jose Caminos of Philippine Navy, Roel Gener of the Philippine Army, Mark Ferrer Philippine Airforce, Joel Ballo-allo, Nestorio Margarse Jr. of Philippine Army, Peter Jaugan of Philippine Airforce, and striker David Basa of UST.


Another teenage goalkeeper Jose Pascual of the University of San Carlos who had been invited to the training pool but has not showed up yet because of commitment to his school in Cebu.


He then re-activated the scouting and the recruitment of Fil-Foreign players. Palami is credited for rekindling the international football careers of the reliable Young husband brothers Phil and James.


The duo who used to play for the Chelsea FC reserve team in London found a niche in the Philippines but has stopped playing for the Azkals after a row with the PFF.


James and Phil are now back in top form scoring one goal each in their 2-2 draw against Laos. James also had two assists in their 5-0 victory over Timor-Liste.


Palami also signed Filipino British goalkeeper Neil Etheridge of Fulham FC of England, and Filipino-Dutch midfielder Jason de Jong from the Dutch League.


Other Filipino foreign players in the line-up include defenders Robert Gier, Gino Pavone, Mathew Hartman, and midfielder Manuel Ott.


In an interview with Palami, he said that he wanted to develop a team that everybody wants to support. At the start of this endeavor, he knew that is very difficult to get a private sector support for a team that has no winning attitude. But now that they have started winning and qualified for the Suzuki Cup, the Azkals have shown to everyone that they are a good team.


The next step--according to Palami-- is to look for partners who are willing to help the Azkals because, as of the moment, he only gets support from Mizuno for the Kits while all the rest is from his own pocket.


Palami is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and earned his accountancy degree at the University of the Philippines. He has studied to become a lawyer, but left UP law school in his fourth year to set up his railways company. He is now based in Manila but was born and grew up in Tacloban city, Leyte.


Suzuki Cup


With only more than a month of preparation before the Hanoi tournament, Palami is worried by the Azkals defenses. He said that the coming weeks will be spent on preparing the team defenses.


"We are capable of scoring goals and we always look very dangerous when we keep the ball, however we are always being caught flat-footed during counter attacks," he said.


He added that if they fix their defensive problems, they could actually reach the semis. Fil-British goalkeeper Neil Etheridge will be seeking permission from his London Club, Fulham to see action in the finals. Etheridge has been the starting goalkeeper for the Azkals since 2008 whenever he is available.


He flew to Laos to play in the elimination tournament and became a hero in their scoreless draw against Cambodia by stopping countless attempts. The draw sealed their fate to the Suzuki Asean Cup final.


Etheridge has been promoted to the first team of the Fulham FC starting this season after seeing action in their reserve and youth teams for many years.


Additionally, Palami will try to bring in another Fil-German defender Steven Schrock to bolster the team defensively.

Football community

The football community and Philippine sports in general is thankful for having Dan Stephen Palami as the chief supporter of the Azkals.


Danding Cojuangco did it before for the RP national basketball team. Now, Manuel V. Pangilinan is also doing it for Philippine basketball and Philippine boxing. But these two men are business tycoons and they have their own people to manage their teams.


Palami is different, he is always with the team. He even joins them when they travel and sits with them on the bench. Nobody has done this before for Philippine football. He describes this as his personal crusade to help football. Philippine football needs more people like him. It is now time for the public to support the Azkals and for the private partners to help maintain the cost of running the National team. Let's book our tickets to Hanoi. Go Azkals! Go Azkals Go!


GOD BLESS jackbiantan@yahoo.com

Sun Star Cagayan de Oro