Face-off: Philippine Azkals vs Singapore Lions

Almost two years ago, I did not know who and what the Azkals were. I wasn’t alone. In this basketball-crazy nation, many Filipinos did not even know that the Philippines even had a national men’s football team.

The Philippine Men’s Football team burst into the limelight late 2010 when the Azkals beat defending champion Vietnam and booked a seat in the semi-finals of the 2010 Suzuki Cup for the first time in the 16-year history of this most prestigious football tournament in Southeast Asia.

The Azkals’ Cinderella run at the 2010 Suzuki Cup made it to Sports Illustrated’s “Top 10 Soccer Stories of 2010.”  SI’s Georgina Turner, in a review of the leading football tales of 2010 wrote: “The ASEAN Football Federation’s biennial Suzuki Cup might not be too high up on your list of priorities, but this year’s tournament produced arguably the biggest upset in its history: Defending champion and federation powerhouse Vietnam lost 2-0 to the Philippines, ranked 151st in the world and without so much as a point off Vietnam in nearly 20 years.”

Further underlining the Azkals underdog status was the fact that despite having booked their semi’s seat versus Indonesia, our boys were denied a home game even with the home-and-away format of the Suzuki Cup, because the Asian Football federation did not approve of the available stadium in the country and because of internal squabbles and leadership crisis that plagued the Philippine Football Federation in 2010.

Fast forward to 2012, as of Nov. 7, the Philippine Men’s Football Team is ranked 143 in the world (its highest ranking ever), 20th in Asia and is the 2nd highest ranked team in Southeast Asia next to 138 ranked Vietnam. As a fan, I’m proud to have grown with the team by gaining some football knowledge and expanding my football lingo. After watching Azkals games and foreign premier league matches on TV, I  no longer call a scoreless draw “zero-zero” but “nil-nil.”

The Azkals continue to capture the country’s imagination and gain fans both football savvy and football illiterates alike.

Newly minted fans like myself (sometimes derisively called bandwagon fans), who only two years ago did not know what the terms “offside” and “corner” meant, have a chance to further educate themselves about “the beautiful game” by watching Face Off: Philippine Azkals vs. Singapore Lions in Cebu on Thursday, Nov. 15 at the Cebu City Sports Center.

The match against the Lions will be the Azkals’ final tune-up before they head to the Suzuki Cup in Thailand in Nov. 24. The Philippines is in Group A of the championship against hosts Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar. Dan Palami, the team manager of the Philippine national team tells the ASEANFootball.org, the Azkals are no longer underdogs but a dark horse in the Suzuki Cup. “Everybody’s expecting a hard fight from us and we have to live up to expectations as well, not only from fans here but also from the competition. We caught them by surprise in 2010, but I doubt they will get surprised by us again. We have to prove we deserve the ranking as well as the reputation we’re getting from the football community.”

Face Off is a rare opportunity, in fact the very first time, for Cebu-based fans to witness an international football match right on their home turf. Ricky Ballesteros, the top man of the Cebu City Sports Center encouraged Cebuano football fans to seize this opportunity to watch the Azkals live in action.

On Thursday, gates will be open as early as 3 p.m. or four hours before the 7 p.m. kickoff. Ballesteros said that fans are encouraged to come early because although the tickets have seat numbers, the concrete bleachers itself do not have individual seats and is designed for free-seating arrangement.

Spectators are encouraged to park elsewhere and commute to the venue since the parking slots inside the CCSC are all reserved for guests with VIP passes.

Pointed objects, umbrellas and bottled water will be confiscated at the entrance, but fans will be allowed to bring cameras. Smoking is absolutely prohibited at the stands or anywhere else inside the CCSC.