If not for the pandemic, the AFF Suzuki Cup season would have been rising fever pitch by now as the Southeast Asian powerhouses slugged it out for football supremacy.
And like it or not, the Philippines can look these powerhouses in the eye as equals.
Many point to 2010 as the beginning of the country’s football renaissance, sparked by the “Miracle of Hanoi” that booked the underdogs an historic spot in the semifinals of the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup.
And yet the team’s revival began years before that, particularly in the mid-2000s when the team was christened “Azkals” by a new breed of football fans.
The team’s buildup was gradual, and the results reflected the improvements the team had made: Gone were the days when the likes of Indonesia would thrash the Philippines 13-1, like it did in a group stage match in 2002.
Since the tournament’s founding in 1996, the Philippines had to qualify for the tournament, and, often with subpar results, never reached the two-leg knockout stages.
And then on Dec. 5, 2010, the Miracle of Hanoi happened: An ultra-defensive counter attacking Azkals carved out an incredible 2-0 win over defending champions Vietnam on the host’s home soil, the biggest upset in the tournament’s history.
Since then, the Philippine Azkals have made semifinal appearances in all Suzuki Cup tournaments except in 2016.
But despite all these appearances in the biennial tournament’s knockout stages, the Philippines has yet to reach the final, much more win the prestigious cup.
This year would have given the team another shot at the elusive title, but the Azkals have to wait as the tournament has been moved to April 2021 due to the pandemic.
For now, fans who followed the Azkals’ slow ascent all the way to the Miracle of Hanoi can only reminisce about that fateful, game-changing match against Vietnam in 2010.
On paper, the Azkals’ results across all competitive matches in Asia since 2010 is a positive one: 37 wins, 26 losses, and 22 draws.
The team’s biggest achievement by far is qualifying for the 2019 Asian Cup, which is not an easy task to pull off in football mad, talent-laden Asia.
For the Philippine Azkals, the 2010s was a breakthrough decade, but who knows what the 2020s will bring?