THE Philippine Under 14 national football team otherwise known as the Little Azkals U-14 is once again one of those who made the Philippines proud with their achievements in Italy, Malaysia and Japan last year.
After winning eight of their 12 friendly matches against junior Italian football teams while having a training camp in Palermo, Italy last May, the team made up of booters from all over the country went on to post three wins and two draws out of nine matches in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-14 Festival of Football (FOF) in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.
It was the team’s second time seeing action in the AFC FOF. Their first was in 2011 as the national U-13 team, wherein they finished with three wins and three draws in 10 matches.
The team, however, nailed its biggest achievent in Osaka, Japan in June wherein they placed third in the Japan-East Asean Exchange Programme U-14 Youth Football Festival, trailing Japan and Indonesia, respectively.
“It feels incredible to have finally achieved something for football in the Philippines at such a young age,” Little Azkals assistant team captain Josh Miller said.
Team assistant coach Eliezer Fabroada said the team’s true test last year was in Japan because it was a tournament. It was the team’s 2011 AFC FOF performance that got them the invite from the Japan Football Association.
The team was supposed to cap 2012 with three friendly matches against Singapore and a training camp last December, but both events were cancelled.
“As per Singapore coach, their FA (football association) decided to cancel due to the busy schedules of their team and the FA. The training
camp last Dec. 26 – Jan. 6 was also cancelled as only few players could come due to typhoon Quinta,” said an official statement from Little Azkals team manager Richard Montayre.
With the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) prioritizing the sports’ grassroots development, some members of the team will move on to the Born 1999 national team who will see action in the Asian Youth Games in China, while some will go to Born 1998 national team who will leave for the United Kingdom and Australia for a training camp.
He said that in initial talks with PFF technical director Jose Ariston Caslib, tryouts will be conducted for three national junior teams—Born 1999, Born 1998 and Born 2000-2001 who will compete in the AFC U-14 Qualifiers in June.
“We will be looking for another date wherein we can gather all the players from all over the country for a tryout for additional players to be able to have a bigger pool of players,” said Montayre. /CORRESPONDENT MARS G. ALISON