Keep believing

I stayed up until early morning last Sunday to see my heart bleed.

The Philippine Azkals looked very sharp at the start of the match against Kuwait, but fizzled out in the end losing to the host 0-3 in the first leg of their World Cup qualifier.

The hole is quite deep to get out of and the Azkals need to win by a margin of four goals tomorrow to move to the next stage.

Is that possible? Yes it is, but of course the probability is quite low.

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While the defeat of the Azkals in the hands of Kuwait broke my heart, I continue to believe in the team and hope we continue to support them.

This is a great time for football in the Philippines and no matter what is the result of this match against Kuwait, the sport has gained so much momentum and we should ride on this to attain higher goals in the future.

What our football officials need to do is take the first step forward and that is to forget politics and simply work for the good of the sport.

The change in the leadership of the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) last year seems to have accomplished that, but we can’t say the same yet for the associations in the various areas around the country.

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I also hope that the success of the country’s senior national football team will also rub in on the younger squads including the Under-23 team for the Southeast Asian Games late this year.

The Teen Azkals, the Under-16 team, wasn’t very successful in a recent international stint. I hope that taught our football leaders some lessons on how the team should be formed.

I kind of agree with a comment made by my compadre Jack Biantan on the Pinoy Football page on Facebook about the schedule of classes in the country, which discourages many parents to allow their kids to join the national team.

The Department of Education (DepEd), which seems to focused on keeping our kids longer in school with the K+12 program, must first look into the schedule of our classes, which starts in June and ends in March. 

Many international events are scheduled during the school break for most part of the world from June to August, which makes it difficult for our country to send our best players.

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MILESTONES: Belated birthday greetings to those who turned a year older last Monday like Col. Ezra James ‘Iking’ Enriquez, Atty. Jephte Romea, Cebu City Councilor Margot Osmeña, Francis Ramirez, Barber Rabor, Gilbert Olan, Mark Anton Masa, Christianne Sebastian-Guanzon, and Dean Nona Bacatan-Suerte.

Belated greetings also go to those who turned a year older yesterday like Rep. Tommy Osmeña and Philip Canora.

Today’s greetings go to Dawn Faith ‘Ating’ Hormachuelos-Santos, Mare Bunagan, my mistah Lt. Col. Florante Sison, and Cavalier Ricardo ‘RJ’ Liwanag.

More power to all of you! - THE FREEMAN