Barsales: Banged-up, bruised but unbowed

RANGOON – At 38, Yanti Barsales doesn’t look like his playing days are numbered.

He’s the oldest in the Azkals lineup, but the grizzled forward from the Philippine Air Force still knows how to make his presence felt in the field.

He came in at the start of the second half, in the game against Myanmar the other day, and changed the game for the Azkals.

Barsales was all over the pitch, making things happen in offense and coming out of nowhere to hound the opposing players.

In the 76th minute, Barsales took a perfect lob from Angel Guirado. He raced toward the penalty box but was met up high by the Indonesian goalie.

Barsales took a hard tackle, a front kick to the face, and fell hard to the ground. His shot came close to the goal and was swiped by a Myanmar player.

As Barsales lay on the ground, bleeding profusely from the face, the referee slapped the Indonesian goalie with a red card, leading to a penalty kick.

James Younghusband scored and gave the Azkals a 1-0 lead.

Late Monday evening, Barsales watched the replay of the match along with his teammates, and looked like he had just gotten out of the hospital.

He was all banged up, with a heavy plaster on his face, bruises on his neck and a heavily-bandaged chest.

“He eats nails for breakfast,” said team manager Dan Palami.

Barsales said he wanted to see the replay of the tackle, the hardest he’d taken in all his years as a football player.

“Ahhh,” he moaned as he caught it on television.

But he smiled afterwards, saying he would do it again, if needed. In fact, as he bled on the sidelines, he insisted that he could keep on playing, but was not allowed to.

“Mas maganda lang kung nanalo (It’s a pity. But it would have been nicer if we won),” he said.

The match ended in a draw after Myanmar score on a free kick in the final minute.

“Sayang talaga (It’s a pity),” said Barsales.

He deserves the Purple Heart.