AZKALS WIN PEACE CUP, ENDS 99-YEAR TITLE DROUGHT
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 30 Sep 2012
The Philippine Azkals, the national football team won the championship of the Philippine Football Peace Cup to snatch the country?s first international football championship in 99 years. The last time the Philippine football team won a title was the gold medal in the 1913 Far Eastern Games.
The Azkals conquered Chinese Taipei, 3-1, to sweep the tournament. They demolished Macau, 5-0 last Thursday and prevailed over Guam,1-0 last Tuesday.
Coach Hans Michael Weiss hoped that criticisms will now be appeased. A lot of fans were fuming when Phil and James Younghusband were not included in the lineup. ?We?ve also been criticized for some things. Hopefully, they understand now what happened in the past,? Weiss said. ?(I hope that people) cool down a little bit before criticizing,? as quoted by InterAKTV.
Weiss said that the title that they won just proved that other players can fill the void if some stars were not around since some of these superstars could not always be available for the national team. ?We only have them for short periods and that does not work instantly. We have to balance these things,? Weiss said. ?We should be able to build a good core.?
Members of the Azkals swept the awards of the tournament in preparation for the 2012 ASEAN Football Federation Suzuki Cup in November, where they target to surpass their semifinal stint two years ago.
Filipino-German forward Denis Wolf grabbed both the Golden Boot Award and Most Valuable Player honors when he scored four goals in the tournament. ?I?m so proud to be part of this team,? Wolf said. ?Winning these is a dream come true.?
Eduard Sacapa?o won the best goalkeeper award, Fil-Belgian Jeffrey Christiaens won the best defender plum, Matthew Uy was chosen as the best midfielder. The Azkals also seized the Fair Play Award of the tournament.
Chinese Taipei finished as the tournament?s runners-up, followed by Guam and Macau.
The champion Azkals team included the follwing players: goalkeepers Ref Cuaresma and Eduard Sacapa?o, Defenders Jason Sabio, Carli de Murga, Demitrius Omphroy, Matthew Uy, and David Basa, midfielders OJ Porteria, Misagh Bahadoran, Emelio Caligdong, Andres Gonzales, Jason de Jong, Marwin Angeles, Lexton Moy, Jeffrey Christiaens, Patrick Reichelt, and Marvin Angeles and forwards Denis Wolf and Ian Araneta.
The name ?Azkals? was invented when an online Philippine football community proposed the nickname ?Calle Azul,? Spanish for ?Streets of Blue,? referring to the blue color of their outfit, which was modified to ?Azul Calle,? shortened to ?AzCal? then finally became ?Azkal,? a word that is similar to Filipino term ?Askal? meaning street dog.
(Photo by InterAKTV/Roy Afable)
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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