Philippine Football

[dxjayrock2008]

It's now 3-0 with another goal from Aldeguer (spelling?). My goodness, this guy is for real!

Angel Guirado Aldeguer is heaven sent!

[dxjayrock2008]

Final score, 3-0 in favor of PHL Azkals. Viva Azkals! Ole! Ole! Ole! Ole! Ole! Ole!

[kaiziken_pinas]

and where's that bum who said Aldeguer lacks talent?

GREAT WIN!!! WOOO! AHOOO!

[paolylo]

and where's that bum who said Aldeguer lacks talent?

GREAT WIN!!! WOOO! AHOOO!

having dog sex with the guy who said the German coach should be sacked.

to be fair to those guys, this is just the lower level of Asian football our Azkals competed against. i'll reserve my judgement until i actually see the next two games on TV, but based on the tweets and updates... this isn't the Philippine team that parks-the-bus-and-counters. they can actually play free-flowing, open football this time.

Angel Aldeguer Guirado has been a revelation. i don't really give a shit if he's just a 4th-rate Spanish talent. the guy wins 50-50 balls on size alone, his passes are accurate, he maintains ball possession, and his game has got some flair... the perfect support-striker for the Azkals.

[TrueBluePinoy]

Next up is the World Qualifiers. June 29 - July 3. From the 43 teams, along with Laos we have the lowest seeding. The draw will be on March 30.

[interxavierxxx]

having dog sex with the guy who said the German coach should be sacked.

to be fair to those guys, this is just the lower level of Asian football our Azkals competed against. i'll reserve my judgement until i actually see the next two games on TV, but based on the tweets and updates... this isn't the Philippine team that parks-the-bus-and-counters. they can actually play free-flowing, open football this time.

Angel Aldeguer Guirado has been a revelation. i don't really give a shit if he's just a 4th-rate Spanish talent. the guy wins 50-50 balls on size alone, his passes are accurate, he maintains ball possession, and his game has got some flair... the perfect support-striker for the Azkals.

And to those people who keep bashing basketball because of our "lack of height", they should know that Aldeguer is 6'3, which is quite tall for his position. Normally, players with this height are defenders.

Hats off to our team for proving themselves to be true contenders. I did not watch the game (heck no one did) but the updates alone convinced me that Weiss did a good job improving our offensive game. Good luck to them in the upcoming world cup qualifiers. May hard work continue to be on our side.

[RFM]

Thanks Azkal team for making the team qualify for next year. May improve more to dominate games like this.

Humility always amidst all success.
The only way to go up is to go down and bow first.

[paolylo]

And to those people who keep bashing basketball because of our "lack of height", they should know that Aldeguer is 6'3, which is quite tall for his position. Normally, players with this height are defenders.

Hats off to our team for proving themselves to be true contenders. I did not watch the game (heck no one did) but the updates alone convinced me that Weiss did a good job improving our offensive game. Good luck to them in the upcoming world cup qualifiers. May hard work continue to be on our side.

siguro naman we'll participate the WC qualifiers even though we'll likely end up losing in the first round. last time the country participated (2002)... we lost 17-1 to Syria, 9-0 to Oman, and 3-1 to Laos. no Southeast Asian country has made it to the final group stages in recent memory. Thailand and Singapore made it to the next round last time, but ended up losing to the powerhouses (who didn't even use their best players).

my only concern is that idiots who don't know jack about world football will suddenly jump off the bandwagon and stop supporting the Azkals once they lose to better competition. at least 2012 is booked with the AFC Challenge Cup and the Suzuki Cup. the SEA Games will be the next thing to look forward to. some of our Azkals will still be eligible to play since it's an U23 tournament.

[interxavierxxx]

siguro naman we'll participate the WC qualifiers even though we'll likely end up losing in the first round. last time the country participated (2002)... we lost 17-1 to Syria, 9-0 to Oman, and 3-1 to Laos. no Southeast Asian country has made it to the final group stages in recent memory. Thailand and Singapore made it to the next round last time, but ended up losing to the powerhouses (who didn't even use their best players).

my only concern is that idiots who don't know jack about world football will suddenly jump off the bandwagon and stop supporting the Azkals once they lose to better competition. at least 2012 is booked with the AFC Challenge Cup and the Suzuki Cup. the SEA Games will be the next thing to look forward to. some of our Azkals will still be eligible to play since it's an U23 tournament.

Paolylo, as you are the most informative person in football here in interbasket, can you tell how a national team trains for an upcoming major tournament? We know in basketball that teams usually go to Europe for camps and play a series of games against much bigger opponents. What about in football? What do you think is the reason ASEAN nations have a hard time advancing beyond the first round? Surely, it can't be height.

[kaiziken_pinas]

Next up is the World Qualifiers. June 29 - July 3. From the 43 teams, along with Laos we have the lowest seeding. The draw will be on March 30.

Which means we will face a team in the higher brackets.

[interxavierxxx]

Which means we will face a team in the higher brackets.

That is IF we make it to the fifth round.

[kaiziken_pinas]

That is IF we make it to the fifth round.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification_%28AFC%29

this is what I meant . We're competing in the 1st round.

We might get drawn with teams like Malaysia, Cambodia, Afghanistan and Nepal. (I'd prefer Nepal... and I don't know why the hell is Timor Leste ranked higher than us )

Only eight will go through the 2nd round + 22 teams who gained automatic entry in the 2nd round...

A 2nd round appearance would suffice imo as we have ABSOLUTELY no chance in hell in making it to the third round where Japan, Sokor, Bahrain, Aussie-land and NoKor are waiting...
Wait a sec.... the 2nd round is also a home and away format?
There's....a.....big.... possibility that the Azkals might upset a higher-ranked team.



IMO the Azkals need to train together WITH A FULL LINEUP for at least two weeks - a month. That way they won't have chemistry issues.

We're seeing a renaissance here.

[reamily]

At least next year we are in full swing as preparation for the Suzuki Cup we have the challenge cup... modest goals.. I think paolylo said everything what the team is capable of..

correct me if I am wrong I think Suzuki Cup is a tougher tourney than challenge cup as a whole although I think NoKor can be considered a top tier asian team because they qualified for the world cup?

[interxavierxxx]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_FI...tion_%28AFC%29

this is what I meant . We're competing in the 1st round.

We might get drawn with teams like Malaysia, Cambodia, Afghanistan and Nepal. (I'd prefer Nepal... and I don't know why the hell is Timor Leste ranked higher than us )

Only eight will go through the 2nd round + 22 teams who gained automatic entry in the 2nd round...

A 2nd round appearance would suffice imo as we have ABSOLUTELY no chance in hell in making it to the third round where Japan, Sokor, Bahrain, Aussie-land and NoKor are waiting...
Wait a sec.... the 2nd round is also a home and away format?
There's....a.....big.... possibility that the Azkals might upset a higher-ranked team.



IMO the Azkals need to train together WITH A FULL LINEUP for at least two weeks - a month. That way they won't have chemistry issues.

We're seeing a renaissance here.

Like FIBA, FIFA rankings are based on a national team's success in international competitions. The more international competitions you succeed in, the higher your ranking. It's quite understandable that our team has only been more thoroughly active after the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup. Compare this to other teams we'll be seeing in the first round who has been sending their squads in international tournaments since year 2000.

Weird. It seems that there are two Wikipedia pages for the WC qualifiers. I was referring to this one:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_FI...ification_(AFC)

I don't know if this is the format they'll use but the best we can hope for is to be drawn with a weaker team in the first round. These are the possibilities:

Malaysia
Afghanistan
Cambodia
Nepal
Bangladesh
Sri Lanka
Vietnam
Mongolia
Pakistan
Palestine
Timor-Leste
Macau
Chinese Taipei
Myanmar
Laos

[reamily]

I think in the WC qualifiers we will feel the World Cup fever in the first round because in a home and away format may chance tayo against all these teams, it would be an accomplishment to get past though


but it will be different come the second.... I hope it is for next year I believe in the saying "People will remember he team/player on what they play in their last game/tournament"