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Villaflor: Beyond dreaming in Iloilo |
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Saturday, 17 May 2008 |
By Noel Villaflor
Footnote
ILOILO CITY (SunStar) - If the Iloilo River could talk, I would stay here to listen. The city is so rich in football lore it must have gallons of stories — and opinion — to share. I’d probably throw him loads of questions, too.
Me: What do you think of the Tajikistan coach blaming the poor condition of the football pitch for their failure to beat 10-man RP?
Grand Old River: I’d like to see him jump in here.
Hearing that lousy excuse from coach Pulod Kodirov at the post game conference makes the fans’ blood boil. Surely, the field was battered by incessant rains days before the match, but both teams were playing on equal ground.
Look, Mr. Kodirov, your team was up against only 10 men and used every trick in the book to rile your young opponents and you blame the football field?
Why can’t you just say that the Azkals played courageously, brilliantly, and with composure despite being undermanned for three-fourths of the game?
Well, if he did, that wouldn’t appease his higher-ups at the former Soviet State.
The only way to do that is to win today’s 3:30 game at the Iloilo City Sports Center and edge the other winning team by goal difference.
As it stands, the RP team is down on goal difference next to Tajikistan, although Brunei and Bhutan each have a chance to win this stage of the AFC Challenge Cup.
The Azkals have only one option against Bhutan in Barotac Nuevo today, and that is to flood their opponents with goals.
Since the games are held simultaneously, there is no clear-cut winner until the last whistle blows.
Coach Norman Fegidero Jr. said in the post-match conference that with this scenario, “we will go for the win” in Barotac.
Failure by the Azkals to advance for the finals in August may be a heartbreaker, but whatever the results, Philippine football is bound to get better, judging from the way they played last Thursday.
In the conference, Player of the Match Aly Borromeo commended the team even after going a man down when Jason Cordova was sent off against Tajikistan, ranked 155th in the world. RP is ranked 183.
“The red card made us stronger as a unit. The locals played well with the Fil-foreigners,” Borromeo said.
That, of course, is an understatement. The Philippines outplayed Tajikistan in several spells, keeping the goalie on his toes the whole match.
Yet Borromeo’s observation carries a lot of weight.
First, the players are gelling well as a team, a far cry when they first played three years ago in Bacolod. Second, it shows maturity for a young team whose oldest player, fullback Joebel Bermejo, is 26 years old. The youngest is 19. Anybody expecting overnight success is a dreamer. But five more years and the Azkals will be a force to be reckoned with in the region.
At a downtown hotel trying to beat deadlines, Big Jack Biantan of Pinoysoccer.com and freelance photographer extraordinaire Victor Kintanar shared the same view.
“This is the team that will give the Philippines its first title,” predicts Biantan, the country’s foremost football columnist, now based in London.
It could be this year, or the next. It will come.
(nsvillaflor@gmail.com)
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