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Wednesday, December 15, 2004
Taneo: The Tiger Cup tiger club
By Paul J. Taneo
Free-for-all
THE Philippines has lost two games in a row but by playing like a real football team it is the Tiger Cup revelation by letting a tough Myanmar squad escape with a 1-0 win and gave Malaysia some scary moments in a 4-1 defeat.
Unlike the 2002 edition, the Philippine team now gets to hold on to the ball after more than three passes. The 2002 team was a great embarrassment, looking like rank amateurs who only learned the game a year ago.
This year’s RP Men’s Tiger Cup football team, on the other hand, is something we can be proud of, even if it manages just one win (expectedly against Timor-Leste) last night at press time. If this line-up gets to stay together for two years more and play in a couple of international tournaments (expectedly, that won’t happen), it can beat Cambodia, Myanmar and other lower-tier teams in Southeast Asia.
And if Freddie Gonzales gets back to the team after his honeymoon, he will form a formidable 1-2 punch with the 6-foot-1 Alexander Charles Luis “Ali” Borromeo on attack.
But the present line-up will do for the moment. There is an apparent organization and teamwork in their plays. Attempts on goal are not that rare anymore, eliciting, dare we say it, excitement on those rooting for the Filipinos.
Friday night, watching the RP-Malaysia game live at our little battered multi-purpose TV at the Sun.Star newsroom, all five of us (probably all the audience in a three-kilometer radius) shouted and moaned and stood on our feet during thrilling moments of the match.
In the 2002 Tiger Cup, that would have been unimaginable.
Considering that Myanmar scored its lone goal over the Philippines late in the match and that Myanmar beat Malaysia also by the same 1-0 score, this 2004 RP Men’s team is doing well above expectations.
Last night, barring another dumb disaster, the Philippines would finally have recorded its first-ever win in the Tiger Cup. And we didn’t even have to import a football coach. Although we have a smattering of half-breed Filipino players in the team, that doesn’t make them extra-terrestrials and it’s not a Fil-sham issue.
PACMAN SNACKS. It was obvious even to the blind that Thailand’s Fahsan (3K Battery) Por Thawatchai was mere in-between snacks for the big meal ahead. Thawatchai is middling by any standards. That he had beaten a couple of Filipinos before being slapped around by Pacquiao is not impressive at all, those defeated Pinoys being not near the class of Pacquiao.
After four rounds, the Thai fell to the heavy mitts of Pacquiao, whose speed and power were evident. Content to use a right jab followed up by a reaching left straight/overhand, Pacquiao peppered Thawatchai all throughout. Having half the speed, power and skills of Pacquiao, Thawatchai was no more than a punching bag.
But Pacquiao won’t have such an easy time against any of the three Mexicans: Erik Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera and Juan Manuel Marquez.
Barrera would be the safest opponent for Pacquiao, considering how he manhandled the new WBC featherweight champion before Barrera took Morales’ title.
Marquez is tougher than Barrera and there’s no logic going after the title-less Morales who is highly capable of winning over Pacquiao.
Pacquiao’s handlers should do everything in their power to arrange a rematch with Barrera, who should not be too eager of getting humiliated again.
Marquez should be more willing to fight Pacquiao again if only to prove that he deserves the draw with Pacman despite getting knocked down three times in the first round.
And if Pacquiao seriously wants to prove he is the best uncrowned fighter in the featherweight neighborhood, he must refine his style. Maybe it’s too late in the game to change his methods, but Pacquiao can look very awkward trying to hit an opponent like he’s catching butterflies with that semi-hopping reaching left overhand/straight of his.
He used that against Marquez and he looked desperate, attempting to knock out the Mexican in the middle and late rounds. Undoubtedly, Pacquiao has all the speed, power and stamina he needs. He has been very successful so far. But if he can add grace to his gifts, he will be the Filipino Muhammad Ali.
GOODBYE TO THE KING. Fernando Poe died a little past midnight yesterday. He was 65. This country will be in mourning the next few days for the greatest movie hero we ever had.
Poe was the classic big brooding hero who let his fists and guns do most of the talking. Poe’s shooting skills are legendary. He was known to have practiced shooting at targets until the sun set. He could cock two .45-caliber pistols with both hands at the same time.
I didn’t become a fan until I saw Ang Padrino in a movie theater after reading a rave newspaper review. Poe, like the similarly-designed Clint Eastwood, became a complete motion-picture creature: He became a writer-director.
His ill-advised venture into degenerate Philippine politics ruined a big chunk of his legacy but he is in a better place now.
He will always be The King. The king is dead, long live the king!
(sports@sunstar.com.ph)
(December 15, 2004 issue)
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