Limpag: The Azkals are coming to Cebu

I WAS having a quiet lunch at the Mooon Café yesterday, with MCB and CDG, when I got a call from Dan Palami.

His news made my companions scream like school girls.

The Azkals are coming to Cebu.

He said if I could find them a suitable training venue, the Azkals will have a 10-day training camp here for the second leg of their Challenge Cup qualifiers against Mongolia on March 15.

I said there are a lot of suitable training venues here in Cebu.

“Tapos naman kami sa Davao,” Dan The Man said. “And I think Cebu is the perfect place for a training camp.”

So, where to host the Azkals?

The best I could think of is the Aboitiz Sports Field at the Mandaue Reclamation Area, which has ample space for training and practice matches.

Or there is the University of San Carlos-Talamban Campus, but I think the school may be forced to declare a holiday if all the girls will skip their classes.

Or if they want something more private, there is the Don Bosco field in Liloan, which from reports I gather, is in such pristine conditions. There is also the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu field, which has a track oval.

The 10-day camp will be after the Feb. 9 game and could be held early March or late next month. Dan, who is friends with Cebu Football Association president Richard Montayre, will be coming over next week and I hope one of the things that will be finalized is the date and venue for the Cebu training camp.

Anybody else who is excited?

Of course, one of the things I’ll be pushing for is a meet and greet, with fans.

BEATEN BY TWITTER. The camp wasn’t the only we discussed. Dan also said how shocked
he was when news of the Philippines naming a new coach hit the Internet when he hadn’t even made an announcement yet.

It all started in Twitter, and like most hot issues, got picked up by everybody.
“I don’t even have a Twitter account,” Dan said.

The original plan was Dan was to communicate personally with the six candidates, including Simon McMenemy, to inform him of the development before making a formal announcement.

Dan arrived from Germany the other day. And after a 16-hour trip, he went straight to attend a wedding. It was during that ceremony when the news broke and he got deluged by calls and text messages.

And because of the Twitter post, Dan was forced to issue a statement, prematurely.

Yesterday, Dan said he has also talked with Coach McMenemy, who might still have a role to play in Philippine football.

The Challenge Cup game requires licenses that Coach Simon doesn’t have and Hans Michael Weiss has. Weiss is a 45-year-old experienced German coach.

The coach isn’t the only good news that Dan brought from Germany and after our conversation, I’ve added Germany to Fulham as the list of teams to cheer.

Germany will also be sending over special coaches and a training director who will oversee the grassroots development program of our country.

And that’s not all.

They are also willing to host a training camp, all expenses paid, for the Azkals in Germany.

“We will probably do that during the summer, just before the World Cup qualifiers,” Dan said.

Dan also talked at length about the German aid but some of it was off the record so as to not pre-empt whatever announcement the football association will make.

Hmmm, I knew something good was about to happen when I decided to wear my Azkal jersey in the Cebu City Marathon yesterday. I wonder what’s the German word for Azkals.

(www.football.cebunetwork.com)

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on January 11, 2011.