Azkals (Philippine futbol's poster boys)

[KareemJabbar]

Kung hindi pa kumuha ng mga Fil-Ams, Fil-Brits at kung ano-ano pang Fil. Di pa tayo makakalampas ng 2nd round.

[jopoc]

*lol* di ko alam kung matutuwa o matatawa ako sa comment mo, pre. *lol*

 

 

 

why not both? hehehe

[blow_gobi]

At least it proved effective in reviving interest in the sport where PH used to excel in the prewar period (1930's). It took almost a lifetime waiting for the country to embrace football again. I wouldn't be surprised if in 10-12 years time we'll have someone from Tondo becoming a star and playing in a First Division club in Europe, given that the sport is starting to take root among the masses. But even before the Azkals became famous, football was already alive and well in Tondo, which is the subject of an Indie film that recently won global film awards.

 

BTW, PFF Pres. Nonong Araneta is from Barotac and played varsity football in UP, before he played for Bayern Munich

 

I heard that there are actually a number Fil-foreigners playing in first division clubs in Europe, but it's just too expensive to let them play for the Azkals. If I'm not mistaken, the best are 2 Fil-Nigerian brothers (the Alavas?) but they already played for the Austrian national team.

[KareemJabbar]

Syota na yata ni Phil si Angel.

 

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/entertainment/07/04/11/phil-kisses-angel-azkals-victory-party

 

 

 

 

 

[johnnydrama]

Syota na yata ni Phil si Angel.

 

http://www.abs-cbnne...s-victory-party

 

 

Uh-oh...with all the media attention coming up Phil's way, I'm afraid that the "David Bunevacz syndrome" may rear its ugly head upon the new pride of Pinoy Futbol.

 

 

[blow_gobi]

Bunevacz is a sham. Getting huge allowance from PSC as decathlete but not getting any medal even at SEA games (buti pa si Richard Gomez may bronze sa fencing). At least Phil had consistently produced goals for PH in international tournaments, 16 goals so far - the highest among all members of the Azkals.

[KareemJabbar]

Napapansin ko tuwing mananalo ang Azkals palaging may big party, ganito ba talaga katalunan ang Azkals noon kaya ganito sila kasaya tuwing mananalo ay magpa-party agad.

[blow_gobi]

The story of football in Tondo

 

‘Happyland’ shows inspiring story of Tondo’s futkaleros

Posted at 6:43 pm July 29, 2010

 

Tags: Film, Indie

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By Anna Valmero

 

 

MANILA CITY, METRO MANILA—For indie film director Jim Libiran, Tondo means more than the dire images of poverty with littered streets and poor families in slums.

 

Tondo is the country’s breeding ground of promising football players, Libiran says.

 

“We are a country of basketball players and it’s sad because I think we play football better and we can make it internationally if we have more people playing it,” Libiran tells loQal.ph.

 

In Tondo, for example, football players since the 1960s have been known as one of the best in the sport and even earned the moniker “barefoot footballers” since they cannot afford to buy shoes.

 

Without open lots in the area, resident players for decades have practiced in the narrow streets of Tondo and their playground is the dumpsite nearby, referred to as hapilan by residents.

 

The struggle to rise from the garbage dump and seek victory, says Libiran, is the story of his next indie film “Happyland.”

 

“Happyland” is Libiran’s follow-up indie film after “Tribu,” which is a docu-fiction about gangsta rappers in Tondo.

 

But Libiran says “Happyland” tackles the “sunnier side of Tondo and the start of its glorious history in football.”

 

“Tondo has produced legends in football in the 60s, 70s, 80s and until now. If you were a football player then, you know then legend of the Tondo players, the tough ones who cannot buy shoes so they play football wearing socks or just barefoot. And they were good,” adds Libiran.

 

The indie film director lamented that the Philippines, after producing a stellar striker in Paulino Alcantara remained to this day a consistent low-performer in the sport and an outsider to the World Cup games.

 

“In Happyland, it’s an inspiring story and a sad story about all the small legends who played football. We don’t know about them because there is no career in football. We are hoping that somehow we change that like have a good football team ten years from now; we start by teaching and inspiring the young,” says Libiran.

 

 

Challenges to producing Happyland aside from generating budget and the need to reshoot major sequences after an editing studio lost major footages shot between January and June this year, included the creative dilemma on the part of Libiran: whether to hire actors to play football or to teach acting to football players or futkaleras , having been members of the Futbol sa Kalye group co-organized by Libiran years ago. He chose the latter.

 

“Although we started filming in January, the concept for Happyland came in 2007 after we showed Tribu. Based on our experience in Tribu,it is much beneficial for the community to use local actors so we trained them in another form of art aside from the discipline in football,” he explains.

 

Filming the docu-fiction cost about P12 million, excluding the post production costs. And now that they have to retake major scenes, the cost may go up higher. “We used six red cams because you are shooting football and daily, we have a crew of 100 people to film at the dumpsite.”

 

But for Libiran, nothing is impossible especially when he is working for a social enterprise project that “will give something back to the community.”

 

“I am not doing things to help people but I think this is the right thing of doing films. At the situation we are in right now, it is very obscene to observe millions of pesos on a purely entertainment thing. Something has to go back to the community,” says Libiran.

[cuatro_ojos]

For those who are not too keen on letting Fil-foreigners play with the Azkals, check out the pics of some European football teams, including the French team who won the 1998 World Cup. I added the hyperlinks in case "hotlinking" is not allowed.

 

Do they look very French to you?

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Sport/Pix/pictures/2010/8/25/1282753192836/World-Cup-1998-006.jpg

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Sport/Pix/pictures/2010/8/25/1282753192836/World-Cup-1998-006.jpg

 

And here's the Dutch team :

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_G3iEH8JFddk/TCiAqtz4S4I/AAAAAAAABy0/PrQtj6skbMM/s400/netherlands_soccer_squad_team_world_cup_2010.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_G3iEH8JFddk/TCiAqtz4S4I/AAAAAAAABy0/PrQtj6skbMM/s400/netherlands_soccer_squad_team_world_cup_2010.jpg

 

Swiss national team:

http://www.cartonrouge.ch/uploads/pics/Suisse-Nigeria_onze_de_base_400.jpg

http://www.cartonrouge.ch/uploads/pics/Suisse-Nigeria_onze_de_base_400.jpg

 

And these are just some of the teams that have "half-breeds" in their ranks. So if they allow players who carry foreign-sounding family names and whose skin colors and features are a whole lot different from their locals, why can't we do the same thing?

[cuatro_ojos]

Frankly, I don't see anything wrong with having a team made up of Filipinos and Fil-foreigners (even if a few of them can't sing the national anthem by heart). They already achieved a lot by rekindling the country's interest in football.

Edited July 4, 2011 by cuatro_ojos

[elvaracco]

I think the Afros in the Euro teams came from the countries former colonies. I'm not sure if the colonies countries took part of their culture from their Euro colonizers.

 

Sa akin naman, I don't see any problem with Fil-foreigners in the Azkal team for as long as their motive is love of country first and love of sport second. I just hope that these Fil-foreigners would be willing to impart their knowledge of the game, talents, and skills to our homegrown youth.

[KareemJabbar]

I think the Afros in the Euro teams came from the countries former colonies. I'm not sure if the colonies countries took part of their culture from their Euro colonizers.

 

Sa akin naman, I don't see any problem with Fil-foreigners in the Azkal team for as long as their motive is love of country first and love of sport second. I just hope that these Fil-foreigners would be willing to impart their knowledge of the game, talents, and skills to our homegrown youth.

 

I agree, buti nga yung mga Fil-Ams at Fil-Brits sa Azkals team marunong mag tagalog kahit papano at kapag kinakausap sila ng tagalog ay nakakaintindi, samantalang yung mga FIl-Ams sa pba ni hindi marunong mag tagalog at kapag kinakausap ng sports media ay English dahil hindi nakakaintindi ng tagalog.

 

 

 

[Guest inverbrass]

Congrats to the Azkals. I hope they beat Kuwait. Sana tuloy-tuloy na sa World Cup and face Messi, Iniesta, Snider, etc.

[Mango Man]

im glad the Azkals won over Sri Lanka, and are rekindling interest in football here in pinas.

 

As for elvaracco's hope that "love of country" and "love of sport" being these fil-europeans' motivations, well quite frankly i doubt it. Obviously they know that while they are not stars in europe, here in phils. they can be superstars/celebrities by virture of looks, etc. And probably they are well-compensated for their time and effort by the team's sponsors.

 

sana i'm wrong, though.

[LYCHEE]

i understand kuwait is ranked 101 by fifa...

this is going to be the greatest challenge azcals will face so far...go azcals!