Cebu Football Association’s (CFA) Rodney Orale said the football field at the Cebu City Sports Center is 95 percent ready for the Nov. 15 international friendly match between the Philippine Azkals and the Singapore Lions.
If not for the rain last Sunday, workers would have already installed the additional 2,000-watt lights to boost the existing lighting at the sports center.
At first, they thought of refocusing the lights from the oval to the pitch but they decided to just back it up so as not to damage the wirings of the lights that were installed when the center was first built in the 90s.
According to a press release by the CFA, the pitch was given the thumbs up approval by Azkals team manager Dan Palami and head coach Hans Michael Weiss, who visited the sports center the Sunday night.
The CFA further stated that Weiss appeared surprise with the improvement, which was nowhere near the condition the pitch was in when he visited the sports center last Oct. 20 to inspect it. During that visit, Weiss had said that the field needed more work as it needs to be more even and the bumpy areas to be corrected.
Orale said he is grateful to the Cebu Country Club for lending them a levelling mower which made them achieved the grass stripes that most pitches in Europe sport. Palami also lauded the CFA for getting the pitch ready for Thursday’s game.
Meanwhile, Smart Communications and the CFA sealed a partnership that will have the telecom giant support “Face Off in Cebu City: Azkals vs Lions in Cebu City.”
This was formalized in a get together with Smart Sports Marketing Manager Epok Quimpo, CFA President Ricky Dakay and Azkals team manager Dan Palami.