Enter the Philippine men’s national football team.
The squad that is affectionately known as “Azkals” (“street dogs” in Filipino) have captured the interest and fancy of the Filipino masses and the closeted football fanatics alike, creating a similar effect to that of “Beatlemania” in the ‘60s but in the world of Philippine sports where everybody loves a winner.
But historically, the Philippines is naturally a football nation.
The game’s governing body, the Philippine Football Federation (originally part of the Philippine Athletic Federation; subsequently known as Philippine Football Association and further evolved into the Philippine Football Federation) was founded in 1907, predating basketball’s original governing body called Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) by nearly three decades.
Another testament to the sport’s neverending love affair to the Filipinos has been that the natural height of the natives is perfect for the sport, not to mention the gift of being crafty in whatever fields they get themselves involved.
Before now-household names like James Younghusband, Phil Younghusband, and Neil Etheridge entered the scene, there was a striker by the name of Paulino Alcantara who holds a place in the list of FC Barcelona top goal scorers with 137 in 357 caps for the club.
Though the country fielded competitive teams in the past, and even brought along foreign coaches to boost the national program, things fell apart and the sport fell into dark days.
And now, here are the Azkals.
First gaining steam during the country’s hosting of the Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) in 2005, the team featured the first appearances of Phil and James Younghusband as well as earlier stints by then-team captain Emelio “Chieffy” Caligdong, current team captain Aly Borromeo, and Ian Araneta among others.
Though the squad stumbled in recent years due to mismanagement and internal strife within the PFF, the team got its break when Leyte Football Association president Dan Stephen Palami resurrected the team and brought it to unprecedented heights in recent months. Previously, he unsuccessfully handled the youth national teams, but has found his calling with the Azkals.
The national team’s claim to fame in recent months took off during the recent ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Suzuki Cup, where they placed second in qualifications and narrowly made it into the competition.
There, they first surprised Singapore by forcing them to a 1-1 draw. The unthinkable happened when the underdog (no pun intended) Philippine squad beat out the highly favored Vietnam on their home soil in a 2-0 shutout. The defending champions previously humbled Myanmar in a 7-1 drubbing entering that contest. Needing a win or a draw and either loss or draw in the Vietnam-Singapore contest, the Azkals managed to salvage a scoreless draw against an upset-hungry Myanmar.
The cinderella run of the Philippine men’s team ended when they had to play an “away-and-away” series with eventual finalist Indonesia in front of a hostile crowd in Jakarta. Cristian Gonzales broke the hearts of the Filipinos by scoring a goal in each leg to lift his squad to the Finals, where they lost to Malaysia.
With no home game in their last competition, the team wishes to capitalize on a home ground advantage with a very rabid home crowd behind them in the first leg of their Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Challenge Cup qualifying match against a virtually unknown Mongolia squad.
The stage is now set. It’s on!
