Villaflor: When fans go hungry PDF Print E-mail
Saturday, 26 April 2008

By Noel Villaflor
Footnote



CEBU CITY (SunStar) - Football fan, stop everything you’re doing right now and head for the University of San Carlos football field in Talamban.

Do the same thing tomorrow.

The National football team—the Azkals as they are fondly called—are here.

This morning, barring no hitches, they’ll be practicing for tomorrow’s exhibition match against a Cebuano elite selection to kickstart the 8th Inter-Club Football Tournament.

Watching the nationals during practice sessions or matches is an experience.

But just imagine how it is seeing them in a competitive match against foreign opposition, at home soil, live.

Imagine how it is to be part of a sea of Filipino football fans in a frenzied but rare display of patriotism.

Football is the number one sport in the world, and in many countries, footballers are regarded as national heroes.

Doesn’t it make sense then that supporting the national football team is up there when it comes to expressing love of country? (Don’t worry about what your Araling Panlipunan teacher taught — you can always sing “Ang mamatay nang dahil sa iyo” during the national anthem.)




So here’s my suggestion: block your skeds beginning May 11 and head for Iloilo where the nationals will take part in the Asian Challenge Cup.

Bring companions along, preferably non-fans. (Tell them it’s a business trip. If that doesn’t work, lure them with authentic La Paz noodles or succulent oysters with an accent. You bet that at the end of the tourney, you’ll have won them over.)

I was there the last two occasions the Azkals played against foreign opposition, both times still in Bacolod City.

Let me tell you what it’s like, seeing a live international football match: it’s not like watching TV. Pardon me if I’m scrounging for words to describe the experience.

I’m probably exaggerating, but I’ll try again, anyway: the first time is the moment of awakening. The second is when the football fan becomes insatiable.

That yearning to watch football at the highest level will stick with you. It will make you say silly things and swear, “Before I die, I will watch a Champions League or World Cup finals match, live.”

Yet I say this with a word of caution: not all seems well up there, particularly in Europe.

There, the fans’ hunger seems indirectly proportional to the club’s desire to play without restraint.

For instance, there now seems to be a pattern of goals being in short supply in every Champions League semifinal.

The pundit will tell you that should be expected. It’s no crisis. Since winning is everything, teams will exercise more caution on the field.

But doesn’t that mean fewer forays into the opponents’ box, that there’ll be less room for improvisation as the coach puts a leash on his more adventurous attackers who find freedom in the tightest of spaces?

Too bad for the television viewer from the other side of the world who wakes up at 3 a.m. only to watch a goalless draw. Nil-nil is painful to the ears, what more to the eyes.

This is forgivable if the teams involved didn’t carry the names Manchester United and FC Barcelona.

I expected the game between the two of the best attacking forces in Europe a joy to watch.

Instead it outdid the Liverpool-Chelsea game in the yawn fest, which was only partly redeemed by a freakish own goal.

Two highly-charged games in a row that rank close to a catastrophe in the entertainment department—that doesn’t bode well for the sport.

This perhaps is what the Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano—yes, I shall not tire of quoting him—laments as “football for robots” in the 21st century, where “obedience, speed and none of those fancy turns” are the norms.

Come on you Reds and Blues and Stripes. Do the beautiful game some justice, will you?

Even mere mongrels like the Azkals wouldn’t think twice. (nsvillaflor@gmail.com)


Comments (3) >>

raskolnik said: _

  of what use is a build up when it creates nothing in the end?

yes, there are exciting 0-0 games, but these are far and few in between. and a scoreless draw always leaves that feeling of emptiness.

modern football needs goals. this is in contrast to how the sport was played in the old days: teams attacked, especially when they're down. no team plays five players up front nowadays, not even brazil. why? because the cost of losing outweighs the cost of playing ugly.

when the headlines read manchester united vs. barcelona, you expect attacking football, nothing more nothing less. both teams owe this to the fans, not to some stockholder sitting up the stands.

consider the facts: in that game, barca possession stood at 65% while man u had 35%. does that mean barca launched a serious attack and man u countered like mad? if we saw the same game, you know the answer.

and then you have a smashing game between liverpool and chelsea -- not the best attacking teams, mind you -- that reminds us fans how games must be played.

by the way, mentioning basketball in a football forum methinks is sacrilege ;)
May 05, 2008

Jing said: _

  the beauty about football is that the sport is about build up and patience. as a fan, you always are waiting for that moment when a goal is scored. so even if the game ends in a nil-nil draw, there is so much drama and action trying to score that ultimate goal. a nil-nil game can be just as exciting.

now there are also a lot of football matches that ends in a snoozefest. as in any sport, some games are just boring. don't you think a basketball game that ends with a score of 90-60 is exciting?

filipinos are used to basketball where there are abundance of scoring. i used to watch basketball but it gets boring knowing that you already know that goals/baskets will be scored with ease at each end.

as a football fan, you will have to change your point of view of how to approach the match. it is just like sex, you are always building up and wait for that moment.
April 30, 2008

Dominique said: _

  i'm with you Sir!

i also watched both tournaments in Bacolod in 2005 and 2006...

twas really great!

the first time i watched football was my "awakening" also

the second torney was also an inalienable right to watch... hahaha

now, im also swearing to watch the World Cup before I die... hahaha

Tomorrow, (Tuesday) Im heading to Iloilo for some business affairs, but ill drop by Barotac and watch Azkals' practice...

see you all in the Asian Cup
April 28, 2008
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