This Azkal is 'taken'

Of course, it helps that the Azkals are drop-dead gorgeous. As in basketball, or any sport for that matter, what seems to count more especially for local fans are the gamers more than the game itself. The more good-looking the players are, the more deafening grows the fanatics’ scream and the more audible the swooning. Watch full video

The Azkals have actually been on the field for quite a time now but it was only after they beat Vietnam in the recent Asian Football Federation games, a.k.a. Suzuki Cup, (and even if they were eventually beaten by Indonesia) did the Azkals rose overnight to superstar status.

Suddenly, the guys found themselves the new Crushes ng Bayan. They have become such household names that even Angel Locsin couldn’t resist the temptation of riding on the crest of the Azkals’ popularity by saying yes to Azkal Phil Younghusband’s twitted invitation to be his Valentine.

If the name rings a bell, it’s because Phil has once ventured from the football field into showbiz. And that proved to be the London-bred/London-educated Fil-Briton’s biggest blunder. He cried unabashedly on national television when he lost in the GMA “talent” show Celebrity Duets. Then, he split with his manager Joyce Ramirez (who claimed to have spent more than P3M on him for “build-up” purposes, etc.) after a very ugly public fight, in the wake of which photos of Phil reportedly in a drunken state came out in the Internet. Good thing his brother and fellow Azkal James Younghusband didn’t follow Phil to the lions’ lair that is showbiz, or else he, too, would have suffered the same embarrassment. Phil promptly faded out of the showbiz scheme.

Did the brothers go back to England? Nobody knew.

Phil, along with James, is getting a new lease on the limelight with the ascendance of soccer/football as the Filipinos’ new favorite spectator sport. But Phil seems not to have learned a lesson. He’s again treading the treacherous showbiz path by using Angel Locsin, the “willing victim,” as his re-entry ticket. Instead of personally inviting Angel as a gentleman should, Phil conveniently simply twitted Angel said yes, perhaps eager to ride on the crest of the Azkals’ popularity. You use me and I use you. That’s showbiz!

There are a few other Azkal lookers, two of them Neil Etheridge (also a Fil-Briton born and raised in England where, like the Younghusbands, his soccer skills were honed), 16-year-old Chris Camcam and Aly Borromeo, the team captain.

After their win against Vietnam, the boys again proved their mettle by beating Mongolia at the recent Asian Football Challenge in Bacolod, with a rematch set for March 15 in Mongolia (minus Etheridge who has gone back to rejoin his team in London).

Two weeks ago, led by their manager Dan Palami (a Waray-Waray), Aly and some Azkals paid The STAR a visit. The Younghusbands didn’t show up despite confirmation that they were coming, and it’s a good thing Phil (and James) were a no-show for a reason you will know in a while.

Posed for photographs with, among them, the Entertainment staff (from left) Ver Paulino, Honey Orio-Escullar, Ricky Lo, Jerry Donato, Emerson Salvador and Maridol Rañoa-Bismark. — PHOTOS BY VER PAULINO

Aly, 27, is a Taurian (May 13) and a Dragon in the Chinese horoscope. His sunken front tooth and a scar on his upper lip add to his macho appeal, reminiscent of Joaquin Phoenix and Jake Cuenca.

Sorry, girls, but Aly is “taken” (a term that has assumed a new meaning when Piolo Pascual announced before Valentine’s Day that KC Concepcion was “taken” — yes, by him). Aly came with Inez Lobregat, 27, his girlfriend of more than 13 years, who is, like Aly, showbiz material. But no, thanks, showbiz is not for them; sports is (Inez used to play football in school). But doing commercials is okay.

Doesn’t Inez get jealous or insecure now that girls are gravitating around Aly and the other Azkals (a pool of 30 players, with 11 of them enlisted for each game)?

“I’m glad that they have a fan base,” said Inez. “You just have to be supportive of it. It’s not as if girls were not after him even before the Azkals became popular. You just have to accept it.”

“We separate football from our personal loves,” volunteered Aly. 

They came from different schools but they had mutual friends and became barkadas since they were 13.

“Aly was playing soccer even before he was 13 while I was just starting around that time,” added Inez. (The Younghusbands also began playing football early in life.)

It was their early fans who named the group Azkals because like the asong kalye (stray dogs) that they were named after, the Azkals were not getting any support, financial or otherwise. Thank heavens that after the Azkals’ recent victories, kind-hearted people (one of them Manny V. Pangilinan) are rallying behind them.

Do the Azkals bite like their counterparts?

The other Azkal good-lookers include the Younghusband brothers Phil (far left) and James (center) and Neil Etheridge, all of them Fil-Britons raised in England

“We bite back when we are bitten,” joked Aly. But they do bark.

Does Aly think that football would eventually overtake basketball in the popularity game?

“You know,” Aly admitted, “we’ve been waiting for this moment. It’s paying off through hard work. But then again, we want to stay up there somewhat but not really to take over basketball.”

The Azkals’ overnight popularity is good for the sport, conceded Aly, “and we hope to get more people involved and let them appreciate the game because, after all, football is a world game and Filipinos can do it and shine internationally.”

After the interview at the conference room at the fourth floor, Aly and Inez dropped by The STAR’s Entertainment Section office and guess who they bumped into — Joyce Ramirez on a surprise visit with Ben Tan and Gayle Tan, AXN’s incoming associate director and resident assistant director for communications respectively. Aly and Inez swapped “Hi’s!” with Joyce whom they have known since the Younghusbands have become Azkals.

Now you know why I said that it’s a good thing that the Younghusbands “snubbed” the STAR visit. Imagine what would have happened if Phil and Joyce’s paths crossed! 

Mega launches Inside Showbiz

Mega Publishing president and CEO Sari Yap (left) welcomes guests at the recent launch of Inside Showbiz, the company’s new movie magazine formerly known as S Magazine, among them: Sen. Bong Revilla and wife, Cavite Rep. Lani Mercado (middle photo) with Risa Hontiveros; StarStruck winner Steven Silva, Inside Showbiz editor-in-chief Wilson Lee Flores, car racer Marlon Stockinger and Sarah Lahbati (also a StarStruck discovery); and Audie Gemora and Hayden Kho.

Guests had fun playing the ‘exclusive inside game’ where media guys had a chance to ask the celebrities present all sorts of questions. Other stars present: Annabelle Rama, Raymond Gutierrez, Carla Humphries, Miriam Quiambao, Mr. Fu, IC Mendoza, Albert Martinez, Carlo Orosa, Christian Bautista, Tippy Dos Santos, Enzo Pineda, Claudine Trillo, Joey Mead, Arnee Hidalgo, Sam Concepcion, Sef Cadayona and Tim Yap. — Photos By Ver Paulino

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