I LIVE in a country where people who understand football, the biggest sport in the world, are a minority. Even more ironic is that in Southeast Asia, the region where we belong, football is a way of life.
I’ve visited most countries in Southeast Asia and there’s no doubt in my mind that football is a part of the people’s lives. Whether in Thailand, Malaysia or Singapore, football stories making it to the front pages of newspapers is nothing new. In Vietnam, footballers are celebrities, with giant billboards of club players plastered outside the home stadiums. In Indonesia, regular folk wear football jerseys as everyday clothes.
In Bagan, Myanmar, the sight of kids and adults kicking ball barefoot in sandlots near ancient temples is as everyday as herding cattle. From Vientiane to Luang Prabang, Laos has well-kept football fields in far-flung villages. In our country? Well, football is an afterthought.
So as the Philippines joined Vietnam and Thailand to represent Southeast Asia in the continent’s biggest football stage, the 2019 Asian Cup, the other countries whose national teams didn’t make it look at the Philippines with a mix of bafflement and envy.
How can a team from a country whose people are so engrossed with a sport for tall people outperform teams from its football-loving neighbors? I wouldn’t blame them if they say the Philippines doesn’t deserve to be in the Asian Cup.
And yet the Azkals do deserve their spot in the Asian Cup, every playing second of it. It is just unfortunate that many of the sport’s Filipino followers happen to be the most demanding. They expect the Azkals to win all the time. Against powerhouse South Korea, against behemoth China. Such a demand would have been laughable if not for the gulf in class between our team and theirs. But there is no pleasing these crop of football “fans,” no.
Somehow, these unreasonable expectations from many of our countrymen need to stop. Even by competing in Asia’s biggest football stage in a historic first, risking life and limb, the Azkals have brought honor to the country. That alone is enough reason to give the team our all out support.
Tonight, when they play higher-ranked Kyrgyzstan, the least we can do is to stop making excuses and watch the game, whether on cable or online. If they win and the gods of fortune smile upon them, the Azkals might even make it to the next round. If not, at least they’ll be going home with their pride intact and knowing they deserve our respect, and more.