Analysis: The Azkals and PH football

Thursday, February 10, 2011

IT WAS gratifying for the national spirit and pride to see the Philippine football team win over Mongolia in last night's Asian Football Conference qualifying round.

Hometown fans finally got to see the reinforced Filipino football team that stunned reigning Southeast Asian Games champion Vietnam last year.

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Once Southeast Asia?s favorite whipping boys, Filipino football players are finally showing signs they will be more than competition against anybody in this part of the region.

But to say that Philippine football has come of age in this country is more than a bit exaggerated and more premature.

Last night's match was akin to watching the Philippine men?s basketball team trounce Laos in an exhibition game by a score of 120-67.

While the Azkals' win was something to be proud of, it was not out of the ordinary. In fact, the German coach of the Philippine team said they were looking for a wider margin of victory. Something like 4-0 or 5-0. That was how they assessed their chances against the visiting Mongolian team that was clearly outhustled, outran and literally outmanned.

But it took British-Filipinos and Fil-Am players to do the trick.

The Younghusbands brothers are young professionals playing in lower division leagues in football crazed Europe. They were joined by several Filipino-American reinforcements to become a better competitive team.

Phil Younghusband scored the last goal for the Philippines with a curving shot that escaped the Mongolia goalkeeper hands by a hairline near the left post to make the score look a little bit one-sided as it was.

The Filipinos displayed superb cross court passes and were continuously on the attack. But at times, they were also outrun by Mongolian outfielders in going after loose balls.

Members of the Filipino football team, which call themselves Azkals, a sweetened reference to asong kalye or stray dogs, may now be a force in Southeast Asean football.

Like their counterpart in men's basketball, however, they will struggle mightily against Asian powerhouse countries like South Korea and Japan, not to mention Middle East countries that are as world class as anybody in this part of the globe.

Against their powerhouse Asian rivals, the Azkals may be just what they are against their pedigreed rivals.

But if there is any positive note with football?s renaissance in the country, it is the fact that football may be the only team sports that the Philippines could become a world class competitor. Football is not so much about height and weight. It is about speed and agility, skills that are not wanting in the Filipinos.

During the World Cup frenzy last year, I said the Filipinos are perhaps 20 years behind their world class counterparts in the region. But with the better exposure they are now getting because of their winning ways, they might crash into the elite of Asian football in lesser time than expected.