The Philippine Under-14 football team finished third among six countries in the Japan-East Asean Football Exchange Programme U-14 Youth Football Festival held at the J-Green Sakai, in Osaka Japan.
The Little Azkals bowed to festival leader Japan, 0-4, yesterday morning and ended their last match in the festival in a scoreless draw against Singapore in the afternoon.
The Philippine Team wrapped up its campaign in Japan with a win-loss-draw record of 2-2-1.
Aside from Japan, the Philippines also lost to Indonesia last Wednesday.
This is the biggest achievement that the Little Azkals have had so far in two years of being a team.
Host team Japan claimed the top spot with a 4-0-1 record after Indonesia played them to a 1-all draw last Tuesday. Indonesia settled at second with 3-0-2.
Trailing the Philippines in fourth place is Malaysia (1-2-2), in fifth place is Singapore (1-2-2) and Brunei Darussalam in sixth place after dropping all of its five matches.
Despite having the same record, Malaysia was ranked higher than Singapore because of its goal difference.
GREAT EXPOSURE
Head coach Oliver “Bingbing” Colina said the exposure was very good for them because the experience will add a lot to their growth individually and as a team.
Little Azkals midfielder Ray Vincent Sanciangco described his experience in Japan as unforgettable because it was a once in a lifetime chance for them and to be playing against Japan and the other teams who joined the tournament.
According to the 14-year-old Sanciangco of Claret School of Quezon City, his most important learning was “to play as team and to work harder to reach the level of game that we want to reach because we want to change football in the Philippines. We want to show the other countries that we are a strong country.”
Fatigue had taken a toll on the Little Azkals’ performance in Japan as they have had a very busy summer.
Colina admitted that the boys said that they were tired but they still wanted to play a hundred percent in each match.
According to Cebu’s Kintaro “King” Miyagi of the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu, their Japan stint was good but it was tiring. He attributed it to the way the matches were scheduled.
“Like for example the first game will be at 10:30 a.m. then the second game will be 2:30 p.m. It’s tiring because I can’t sleep at the end of the game cause if I sleep my body will be heavy,” said the 14-year-old right back.
Fatigue also made the boys struggle in maintaining their composure as described by another Cebuano Little Azkal Majordean Ebarle of the Abellana National School.
Nervousness was also a factor said Ebarle whose father passed away a week before he had to leave with the team for Japan.
However, all in all the boys described the experience as one they will not ever forget.
“The people here are very nice and hospitable and they attend to our every need. The place we are staying in is far better than any place we’ve ever been as a team, and that’s a unanimous thought among our players,” said Little Azkals assistant team captain Josh Albert Miller of the Paref Southridge School.
The Little Azkals will be staying in Japan until Saturday. Today, they will be treated by the Japan Football Association to a sightseeing and tomorrow they will be made to watch matches in the Japanese League. They will depart for home on Sunday.