Barotac son rises on home stage

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines – Western Visayas is largely considered “the football capital of the Philippines” so it’s just fitting that a proud son of this region got his shining moment when one of the biggest football events in years was played.

Chieffy Caligdong of Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo, took the spotlight from his more fancied Fil-foreign Azkals teammates when he got things going for the host in its AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers home game against Mongolia at the Panaad Stadium Wednesday night.

Pouncing on a goal-mouth scramble in the 42nd minute, Caligdong split the defense on the left flank to boot in the icebreaker, which served as the cushion for their eventual 2-0 win. Fil-British Phil Younghusband accounted for the other goal in the fourth minute of injury time.

“Ito na siguro ang best goal ko sa six years ko sa national team (This has got to be my best goal ever in six years with Phl team),” said the Air Force striker.

Azkals’ coach Hans Michael Weiss couldn’t help but salute the Ilonggo forward for his big contribution to the win.

“Chieffy had a fantastic match and for me, he was the man of the match,” Weiss said during the post-match press conference.

The heavily favored Azkals went on an attack mode against the defensive-minded Mongolian Blue Wolves but were able to score only twice out of over 30 goal attempts.

“Hindi namin akalain na defensive system ang gagamitin nila (Mongolia). Siguro kung whole game ay naglaro sila, baka six to seven goals tayo (Had they not played defensively all throughout, we could have scored six to seven goals),” he said.

Caligdong, one of eight local bets in the Azkals’ lineup that played before some 25,000 fans, vowed to play as hard when the squad goes to the Mongolians’ turf for the second leg of the tie on March. 15.