There's an article on Rappler entitled "Remembering the Philippines as a football nation". It discusses the history of Philippine football, and its current status. The facts are mostly right, except for these two passages:
Showing posts with label Azkals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Azkals. Show all posts
June 18, 2014
July 21, 2011
Azkals vs. Kuwait: The most important match in Pinoy football history
Ah, yes. For some reason, I love starting posts with "Ah, yes". So, ah, yes, the Azkals' match against the Kuwaitis is upon us. This series is, with no doubt, the most important in the history of football in this country. This will make or break apparent surging popularity of the Azkals. If they lose the series, you can practically kiss football in the country goodbye -- at most it'll be a niche sport like... I dunno. Volleyball?
The Kuwaitis are former Asian champions. The Kuwaitis will be the strongest compeititon the Azkals will face since the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup when they faced Indonesia. However, unlike the series against the Indonesians, we have a home game. As what the Azkals had demonstrated, the home field advantage is a big advantage. In a game where one goal is all that matters, a game on the home field would help any underdog.
We'd have to review that game vs. the Indonesians first. The Azkals lost 0-1 on both matches on Jakarta, both goals scored by Uruguayan-born Indonesian Cristian Gonzales. I forgot how the first goal transpired, but the second goal was virtually impossible for any keeper to save. That got me thinking, if the Azkals played one leg here, what would've been the result? And another question: when did the revamped Azkals faced formidable opposition at home with a chance of progressing?
Now for the Kuwaitis: they're not like the Indonesians. They're stronger and are better funded. And they play in the desert. While the Azkals may have acclimatized already, like the home field here, their home field would be their advantage. However, we have the luck of the draw: we play the second leg. Usually, those who play the second leg at home are the one that advances, unless if the first leg result has a margin of three or more.
Which brings me to the next point: the Azkals must not let the game slip away. Apparently, coach Weiss has this covered as he concentrated on defense. If you look at it, it's the reverse as the visitors should be the one on the offensive as the home team would rather have a goalless draw than a draw with goals scored, or even a win where the visitors scored.
So what is a satisfactory result for the Azkals? A win against the Kuwaitis on their home ground is a massive. A goalless draw, on the other hand, is not that satisfactory: A 1-1 result here means they'd progress. In any case, the Azkals must score; even if they lose, the team has an important away goal. So in essence, a 0-1 loss is better than a 0-0 draw. In two-legged fixtures, winning and losing isn't that important: scoring goals is the key. The Azkals and Mongolia split the series, but the Azkals progressed because they scored more goals. You'd only focus on "winning" if the Kuwaitis won 5-0 at their home and a home win here is needed to save face.
And now, for a rant. I know the phrase "true football fan" has been parodied these days: it implies those who are not "true football fans" don't even deserve to cheer for the Azkals. Nevertheless, "true football fans" must be mighty pissed to hear phrases such as "Sri Lanka Brave Reds," "Philippine Azkals" and "Mongolian Blue Wolves". It's like saying "Liverpool Reds" or "Manchester United Red Devils." You don't combine the place name and the nickname. Either they're "Liverpool" or "The Reds" but never "the Liverpool Reds."
So I implore the Philippine media, to do not use the American way of naming teams to denote football teams, except for those teams in North America and elsewhere that use that nomenclature (such as the Philadelphia Union). We can talk about the Azkals, Brave Reds, Blue Wolves, etc., but please, drop the country name.
The Kuwaitis are former Asian champions. The Kuwaitis will be the strongest compeititon the Azkals will face since the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup when they faced Indonesia. However, unlike the series against the Indonesians, we have a home game. As what the Azkals had demonstrated, the home field advantage is a big advantage. In a game where one goal is all that matters, a game on the home field would help any underdog.
We'd have to review that game vs. the Indonesians first. The Azkals lost 0-1 on both matches on Jakarta, both goals scored by Uruguayan-born Indonesian Cristian Gonzales. I forgot how the first goal transpired, but the second goal was virtually impossible for any keeper to save. That got me thinking, if the Azkals played one leg here, what would've been the result? And another question: when did the revamped Azkals faced formidable opposition at home with a chance of progressing?
Now for the Kuwaitis: they're not like the Indonesians. They're stronger and are better funded. And they play in the desert. While the Azkals may have acclimatized already, like the home field here, their home field would be their advantage. However, we have the luck of the draw: we play the second leg. Usually, those who play the second leg at home are the one that advances, unless if the first leg result has a margin of three or more.
Which brings me to the next point: the Azkals must not let the game slip away. Apparently, coach Weiss has this covered as he concentrated on defense. If you look at it, it's the reverse as the visitors should be the one on the offensive as the home team would rather have a goalless draw than a draw with goals scored, or even a win where the visitors scored.
So what is a satisfactory result for the Azkals? A win against the Kuwaitis on their home ground is a massive. A goalless draw, on the other hand, is not that satisfactory: A 1-1 result here means they'd progress. In any case, the Azkals must score; even if they lose, the team has an important away goal. So in essence, a 0-1 loss is better than a 0-0 draw. In two-legged fixtures, winning and losing isn't that important: scoring goals is the key. The Azkals and Mongolia split the series, but the Azkals progressed because they scored more goals. You'd only focus on "winning" if the Kuwaitis won 5-0 at their home and a home win here is needed to save face.
And now, for a rant. I know the phrase "true football fan" has been parodied these days: it implies those who are not "true football fans" don't even deserve to cheer for the Azkals. Nevertheless, "true football fans" must be mighty pissed to hear phrases such as "Sri Lanka Brave Reds," "Philippine Azkals" and "Mongolian Blue Wolves". It's like saying "Liverpool Reds" or "Manchester United Red Devils." You don't combine the place name and the nickname. Either they're "Liverpool" or "The Reds" but never "the Liverpool Reds."
So I implore the Philippine media, to do not use the American way of naming teams to denote football teams, except for those teams in North America and elsewhere that use that nomenclature (such as the Philadelphia Union). We can talk about the Azkals, Brave Reds, Blue Wolves, etc., but please, drop the country name.
June 30, 2011
The Azkals' really long road to the World Cup
You can practically kiss your World Cup hopes goodbye for now, but maybe in the next 20 years at the earliest.
Ideally, the target is to get to the fourth round, where no Southeast Asian team has been able to go to since this format was instituted. Practically, the target is to beat Sri Lanka, and see on how the team can handle the Kuwaitis. A third round appearance is a milestone, the fourth round a dream, and qualification outright impossible.
March 24, 2011
Azkals' AFC Challenge Cup cheatsheet
It's the final matchday of the qualifying stages of the AFC Challenge Cup! The Azkals, who everyone got to know via Showbiz Patrol, Chika Minute and Showbiz Aksyon rose to demigod status almost overnight and are now a breath away from rejoining the AFC Challenge Cup's final tournament (they last joined in the 2006 inaugural tourney).
The road is filled with potholes, the light at the end of the tunnel so far away, heck before I ran out of metaphors, see after the jump how the Azkals can advance to the final tournament.
Calculating the team standings in the game of football is not as straighforward, but not as hard, as it looks. First, you'd have to consider that each win is worth three points, a draw one point and a loss zero points. If a team is tied on points, usually the next basis is the goal difference, or the difference of the goals scored against from the goals scored by the team. WIth that in mind, let's see the current standings:
The matches tomorrow are Palestine vs. Myanmar and Philippines vs. Bangladesh. These matches are played at the same time (they'd use two venues). Before I reveal the cheatsheet, lemme say something important: The Azkals are in a must-win situation as all models show that the only way for the Azkals to progress is via a win against Bangladesh: Since Bangladesh is currently second place in the group and is ahead on points, a draw will not be enough, let alone will it be sufficient to overtake the current #1 team Palestine.
Note that since you probably won't care on who among Palestine and Myanmar advances I didn't provide the tiebreaking situations between the two teams.
Also, the Azkals can even win the group, if the Azkals wins with a 2-goal advantage, and the Palestine-Myanmar match ends in a goalless draw.
The road is filled with potholes, the light at the end of the tunnel so far away, heck before I ran out of metaphors, see after the jump how the Azkals can advance to the final tournament.
Calculating the team standings in the game of football is not as straighforward, but not as hard, as it looks. First, you'd have to consider that each win is worth three points, a draw one point and a loss zero points. If a team is tied on points, usually the next basis is the goal difference, or the difference of the goals scored against from the goals scored by the team. WIth that in mind, let's see the current standings:
Team W L D GF GA GD
PLE 1 1 0 2 0 +2
BAN 1 0 1 2 2 0
PHI 0 2 0 1 1 0
MYA 0 1 1 1 3 -2
The matches tomorrow are Palestine vs. Myanmar and Philippines vs. Bangladesh. These matches are played at the same time (they'd use two venues). Before I reveal the cheatsheet, lemme say something important: The Azkals are in a must-win situation as all models show that the only way for the Azkals to progress is via a win against Bangladesh: Since Bangladesh is currently second place in the group and is ahead on points, a draw will not be enough, let alone will it be sufficient to overtake the current #1 team Palestine.
MYA/PLE
MYA WINS DRAW PLE WINS
BAN WINS BAN, PLE/MYA BAN, PLE PLE, BAN
BAN/PHI DRAW BAN/PLE/MYA PLE, BAN PLE, BAN
PHI WINS PHI, MYA/PLE PLE, PHI PLE, PHI
Note that since you probably won't care on who among Palestine and Myanmar advances I didn't provide the tiebreaking situations between the two teams.
Also, the Azkals can even win the group, if the Azkals wins with a 2-goal advantage, and the Palestine-Myanmar match ends in a goalless draw.
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