Sunday, April 27, 2008 Cebu's best footballers play Azkals today
WILL the best of Cebu have a snowball’s chance in hell against the country’s elite football players?
That question will be answered today as the powerhouse cast of the RP national football team will face off with the hand-picked Cebu All-Stars in a friendly in the first day of the week-long 8th Inter-Club Football Invitational Tournament at the University of San Carlos Technological Center football grounds.
The Cebu All-Star team, which was just recently assembled days before the exhibition, is comprised of 10 from Pinoysoccer.com, players from Queen City United, players from FC Inter Cebu and one from San Roque Royal United.
The team is headed by Glenn Ramos as head coach and Richard Montayre as Team Manager with Ricky Dakay, Bro. Mari Aberasturi, Raffy Musni and Totot Colina in the coaching staff.
The Cebu All-Stars will be bannered by Gary Garciano, Calil Lastimosa, Kim Relucio, Heintz ruic, Bong Aller, Oliver Colina, Jack Reston, Yancy Menchavez, Albert Nangkil, Julius Acre, Yagi Masahiko, Mitsu Tsunakiri, Hayato Ayabe, Ronald Verdida Junard Aguilar and Eleazer Toledo.
Natural talent
With only a day of practice, Ramos and Montayre believe that they must just rely on their natural talent because they haven’t established themselves as a team with such short notice.
Even with their natural talent, the Cebu All-Stars will have, at best, a slim chance against the RP team, led by coach Norman Fegidero, that has been practicing regularly for close to two months now.
“They only had one day of practice so they will just rely basically on their skills of being the top football players of Cebu,” said Montayre, the Cebu Football Association President, in an interview with Sun.Star Cebu.
Ramos thinks that a day of practice isn’t enough for the team to have chemistry.
“A day isn’t enough for a team to jell. They need at least three to six months of preparation,” said Ramos.
“There is no problem with the team’s talent because they are all skillful players but the jelling of the players is the main problem unlike the RP team which has played with each other for a long time,” he added.
Ramos believes that observation and adjustment would be the main strategy for the Cebu All-star team.
“We will observe the RP team in the first 10 minutes of the game and then we will adjust to their game after,” he said.
Being able to play with the best football players in the country is an honor for the Cebu All-Stars but they will still play their best game to defend the pride of Cebu.
“It’s a wonderful experience to play with Philippine’s best,” said Ramos. “I told my players to play their best game for the pride of Cebu,” he said. (EKA)
