HOW do you strike a balance between overkill and respecting the game? During Gilas vs. Thailand, Quinito Henson kept talking about respecting the game and the opponents by playing to your best. That was when Gilas was safely ahead by 30 or so and a change in gear could have seen them win by 50.
In a previous game against Myanmar, which Gilas won by 69 points, 136-67, coach Tim Cone pointed out the same philosophy. He explained that he wanted the team to play at its best but not jack up the margin too much. Before the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, the Philippines beat Myanmar, 147-40,in the Seaba Championships and 129-34 in the 2017 Seag.
In the 2019 Seag against Myanmar, we could have won by 150 if we wanted to but Cone didn’t want to and for me that’s an honorable gesture. How did they strike that balance? Well, they hustled but when they could, they slowed the game. They didn’t insult the opposition.
The Gilas rout reminds me of an incident much closer to home, Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu’s 28-0 rout of Cebu International School in the AboitizLand Cup. That’s one more than Don Bosco Technological Center’s 27-0 win over the University of San Jose-Recoletos in the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. three years ago.
The first question on those who would learn of the score would be this--do they have to win by that much? Sadly, the answer is yes. The first tiebreaker in football is goal difference--as those who followed the U22 team in the Seag learned painfully--and if you have a chance to pile goals on one team, you have to. That scoreline isn’t even the most lopsided that I know of involving a girls team in Cebu. A decade or so back, I remember a Cebu team winning 30-0 and 45-0 in a national finals.
But again, let me go back to the question. At what point does respecting the game become an overkill? 28-0? One goal in every 140 seconds or so? One who saw the game told me, it was getting embarrassing for CIS. Baseball and softball have the mercy rule, where the game can be called off if a team is ahead by 10 in seven innings or by 15 in five. There’s no such thing in football.
What would have Ateneo done not to jack up the score? Pass the ball in their own half? That would be a bigger insult, wouldn’t it?
I remember, back in a high school intramurals match, against a bunch of outclassed freshmen, I kicked the ball at our own goal. It was one-sided, though the score wasn’t that big, but some of the defenders and the keeper were sitting down on the field, talking to each other and I saw that as a great insult.
Ahead by 21 at the half, Ateneo won 28-0 after full time so I think it’s safe to assume they took it easy. CIS supporters, of course, might say Ateneo didn’t have to win by much but how do you not win by too much and still maintain respect for the game?
That’s a tough question. Let’s see how the other coaches who are yet to face CIS this season will answer that.