A FEW days ago, I saw a meme posted on Facebook that called out media for ignoring the “underrated” Azkals. My initial reaction was to nod in agreement, until I reviewed the performance of the Azkals and the younger Philippine squads. What I found was alarming, and media had little to do with the public’s dwindling interest in Philippine football.
Consider the Azkals’ most recent performance in a FIFA-sanctioned international tournament held last December in Taiwan: mostly composed of upstart players beefed up by a few veterans, the team only managed one win, losing two. Hardly material a social-media crazy public hungry for success-centric news would want to follow, right?
The senior team’s results in the AFC Asian Cup 2019 qualification are even more frustrating. After starting out strong with two straight wins, the Azkals struggled with three straight draws, including a goalless one away in Nepal last November. A win would have given the Philippines outright qualification. Instead, the Azkals would have to wait four months to make another crack at history, this time at the Rizal Memorial Stadium on March 27.
It also doesn’t help when the future of the sport -- the U23 teams and below -- continue to play its role assiduously as the region’s traditional doormats. Consider, too, the team’s record in the last three years: in 20 matches since 2015, it has won only two, drawn one, and lost 17.
But if you think the mediocre performance of the younger teams are okay because the senior Azkals squad will make up for it anyway, then you’re terribly mistaken. Our neighboring countries where football reigns supreme share one thing in common: both their junior and senior squads are fundamentally sound and strong, not to mention having popular national leagues and effective grassroots programs that are essential to a healthy football ecosystem.
The role of national leagues in football development is yet another argument why the Philippines Football League, for all its faults, needs all the support to survive. Incidentally, in the past dozen months, what is singlehandedly keeping Philippine football afloat in the public consciousness are the stellar performances of PFL inaugural champions Ceres-Negros FC at the international club level.
Without the good news from Ceres’s gutsy wins in the 2018 AFC Cup, all that Filipinos would read about are the national teams’ string of losses. In a way, Ceres’s rivals Global FC are obliged to uplift the Filipino football fans’ spirits by surviving the final round of AFC Cup group stage hostilities this April.
The most important fixture in Philippine football history, however, is just around the corner: the Azkals’ AFC Asian Cup qualifiers death match against Tajikistan on March 27. The Azkals, which has a warm-up game against Fiji tomorrow, cannot afford to lose against the dangerous Central Asian visitors.
Not only would it mean qualifying for the prestigious AFC Asian Cup for the first time, an historic Azkals win or draw would be an achievement that should trigger a badly needed Philippine football reboot. A loss, unthinkable as it sounds, would deal Philippine football a blow so debilitating and savage even media would want to look away.