No Azkals in Asian Games as PFF not even bothering to nominate team to Incheon

From Reuben Terrado

THERE will be no Philippine football team in the 2014 Asian Games.

Dr. Jay Adalem, a member of the joint Philippine Olympic Committee-Philippine Sports Commission Task Force, said the Philippine Football Federation didn’t submit any entries during several rounds of meetings with national sports associations (NSAs).

That prompted the Task Force not to submit a football team in the entry by numbers list of the Philippine team to the Incheon Asian Games Organizing Committee (IAGOC) recently, he added.

“They did not contact us,” Adalem told Spin.ph. “We have been calling them every now and then. Siguro they have no team and they also have to meet the criteria.”

Earlier, the Task Force announced that team sports must pass its criteria of ‘Top 5’ in Asia before the September 19-October 4 Asiad.

“Wala namang hindi nabigyan ng pagkakataon. We were very fair,” said Adalem, one of the deputies of Asian Games chief of mission and Philippine Sports Commission chairman Ritchie Garcia.

Last year, the Under-23 Azkals were not able to compete in the Southeast Asian Games in Myanmar after failing to pass the criteria of "sure or potential gold medal bets."

The Philippine U23 team missing the SEA Games came despite the Azkals being ranked as the top Southeast Asian country based on Fifa rankings last year.

spin.ph