The Philippine Azkals: Why make the solution the problem?

Mizuno supports the Philippine Azkals

I had this discussion with my friend a few days back. It all started when Jessica Soho made a topic out of the recent success of our Philippine Football Team on her weekly magazine program, Kapuso Mo Jessica Soho. The Azkals’ current standing made our country realize that we can excel in team games other than basketball. 

Here the highlights of the Philippines versus Vietnam match. 

Against Indonesia, we carried ourselves well. Sure, Christian “El Loco” Gonzales is a phenomenal striker and admittedly we have to work on our offense but it’s not as if he dominated. He was the only player who scored in the series but he could have scored more. Except for those goals, the Azkals challenged every possession. Now that the government and the private sectors, as well as the international teams like Germany and some Middle Eastern countries are taking care of the team’s welfare, we could be looking at the era where the Philippines become an Asian football power especially with all the tournaments lined up to help us get the international feel of things. 


Here are highlights from their AFF Suzuki Cup Game 1 match of their semifinal series against Indonesia. 

Have you noticed that no one is calling football soccer now?

Yes, we have evolved.

It's about time that we know Phil Younghusband the striker...

... and not Phil Younghusband the... uhh...
what on earth should I call this?

(by the way, got this from Supreme. Sorry!) 

Back to my friend – he said that the Philippine team are a bunch of Fil-foreigners who come here because they are getting benched in Europe. He also said that football is just a way to make people think you are cool.

It’s merely a part of social standing... 

... Just like owning a cool ride, an expensive gadget, and a flock of hot chicks you bang simultaneously.

What... the... fuck.

I can’t say I don’t believe him. Before finding fame The Brothers Younghusband are nothing more than Team B members of English club Chelsea and Neil Etheridge was a no-namer from some Dutch club... but come on! These guys helped the team gain recognition!

This is downright crab mentality for our part!

This scenario flashbacked me to the late 90’s when Fil-Am basketball players are being charged of falsifying their citizenship! And when they are proven Filipino, we rant on how the PBA is foreigner-dominated! They have our blood and they have the documents to back it up so who are we to say that they can’t play for their country?

I know all nations are racists but in this scenario, our racism is at an all-time high.

Gatorade also supports the Azkals!

A few months ago no one even bothered of the Azkals’ existence. We only knew Philip and James Younghusband through their half-naked modelling spreads and billboards but that’s it! Thanks to these half-naked half-breeds people give a damn on football! And it’s not like they beat people up to score a kit! After collegiate football, footballers think hard on whether to turn pro in a league an ordinary Filipino has never heard of... or quit altogether. Most of our football players before the entry of these guys came from the military where they just do the sport as physical education! The only training they have is to merely kick the ball from Point A to Point B!

And as for social standing... what’s wrong with that? Sure, they play football for the wrong reasons but at least they are playing it! Now elementary schools with football fields are letting little kids play the sport! The best thing these Fil-Am strikers gave us is that they exposed the sport to the nation. These strikers with “fake love” for football could either love the sport whole-heartedly or pave the way for those true-blue soccer playing enthusiasts the country has been yearning.

This logo should remind me to buy their merchandise
BECAUSE THIS LOOKS AWESOME!

Maybe one day we’ll have a football league to rival the PBA!

Maybe we can discover an abundant field of homegrown talents from the grassroots areas that we can snub all the Fil-foreigners altogether!

Hell, perhaps there can be a time when a Pinoy footballer will strut his wares and eventually become the poster boy of teams like AC Milan, FC Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Manchester United, Arsenal, Juventus, and yeah... Real F’N Madrid!

What the Azkals and Philippine football in general are experiencing right now are baby steps to conquer bigger things!

While my friend has gotten the point of supporting and not criticizing, as for those racists, crab mentality people, and mindless peons who want nothing less than to see the Pinoys lose...

DON’T JINX THEM BY HANDING OUT WRONG SENTIMENTS!

Game over.