Wednesday, April 30, 2008 Villaflor: It’s raining goals in April By Noel Villaflor Footnote
THERE are moments in a football game that stay with a fan like the scent of wet grass.
One is the 38th minute of the friendly match between the Philippine national team and the Cebu All-Stars.
Philip Younghusband cuts from the middle and cradles a pass from a right winger.
A fullback snaps at the Fil-Brit’s heels, which snaps back, “Eat my dust.”
But Phil, always two strides faster, gallops at the right flank, then drives the ball across the face of goal, inches from the goalkeeper’s fingertips.
The ball falls on a sub’s foot, and the rest is the split-second story of the ball ending up in the back of the net. Six times.
Not everyone, though, keeps mental images this way, piece meal.
I asked my seven-year-old daughter yesterday if she remembered that lanky striker that Sunday afternoon.
She shook her head with a linesman’s nonchalance.
I asked her if she remembered the game at all.
She glared at me, as if to ask, “Okay ra ka?” and proceeded to kick a ball and that silly remark into a corner of the room.
And there I understood how important that game was to the hundreds who gathered around the University of San Carlos football field.
It left an even bigger impression on the children who witnessed the game, in the flesh.
They didn’t enjoy all 90-minutes of it because the players were good-looking.
It didn’t matter that the score was 6-0. It could have been 60-0, and it wouldn’t have made a difference in how the kids perceived the game.
What mattered was the nationals came to visit and they showed everyone how football can be played. A neat football lesson, as the pundits would say.
Surely, the adults told the kids that beforehand.
But it was different seeing the nationals displaying their skills that close, in a friendly that intense even a child can’t help shouting instructions to the home team.
Ninety minutes compressed into one image. Don’t ever doubt how far that would go.
MOTIVE. The Azkals played two friendlies over the weekend. The first was a workout against Queen City United, followed by a rout of the Cebu selection.
There was one scary moment late in Sunday’s game, when defender Heinje Ruiz tackled for a loose ball, inadvertently dragging Phil’s ankles with his foot. As Phil hung in mid-air, I could hear a faint, collective gasp.
No harm done, save for the 6-0 bloodbath.
The next day in the Inter-Club football tourney, Pinoysoccer.com, who lent eight players to the Cebu All-Star squad, went on a rampage and mangled FC Inter Lapu-Lapu 20-0. Queen City United followed suit and walloped College United 5-0 in yesterday’s game.
Motivation does come in many forms. Too bad for the teams at the receiving end.
THE WAIT. As this column rolls off the press, the 2nd leg between Manchester United and Barcelona FC would have concluded at Old Trafford, with the winner waiting at the wings for the final match in Moscow.
You can bet I didn’t miss that one. Any of the two teams advancing is fine with me.
Tomorrow at 2:30 a.m., Chelsea, away goal in hand and at the brink of their first Champions League finals, will host Liverpool at Stamford Bridge. London may be a wet place to play in, but it’s not Cebu, so don’t expect a deluge of goals.
I’m bad at predicting scores, but this is what I’m seeing: Liverpool packing their bags, Abramovich lifting an Israeli coach in the air, Mourinho green with envy.
