Top 10 moments at the Face-Off: Azkals vs Lions

One cannot claim to be a true blue football fan if you only watch the games on TV.

So, last Thursday, along with 10,000++ spectators, I hauled my 34-week pregnant belly and huffed-and puffed as I climbed up the bleachers of the Cebu City Sports Center to watch my first ever international FIFA-sanctioned football friendly. Make that my first live football match ever. All the effort was worth it.

Here’s my personal list of the Top 10, arranged in no particular order, of things that made Face Off: Philippines Azkals vs. Singapore Lions, one of the best if not the best sports event in Cebu this year.

1. There’s nothing like the first time. Last Thursday’s game was Cebu’s first-time to host an international football match. It was an audition of sorts for Cebu to prove if we have the right facilities, the logistics, and the technical know-how that would satisfy FIFA requirements for future international matches.

2. Heroics. Edward Sacapano’s heroic save just before the halftime whistle when Singapore was awarded a penalty kick. Sacapano made several saves during the Azkals vs. Lions faceoff, but saving that penalty kick was for me was the best. It was the most heart-stopping (I thought I was going to go on labor, just from all the tension and anxiety).

3. The “man of the match” usually goes to the player who scores a goal or makes the most goals. Last Thursday, it was Marwin Angeles who made the only goal of the match in the 56th minute. But the night belonged to Edward Sacapano’s. What I liked about the choice for last Thursday’s man of the match was it was a unanimous choice –  the match officials AND grandstand crowd who after the game chanted Goalkeeper! Goalkeeper! Goalkeeper! until Sacapano was declared The Man of the Match.

4. Proving Edsac’s doubters’ wrong. Sacapano is not even the first nor second choice. The top two choices for goalkeeping duties are Filipino-British Neil Etheridge who plays for Bristol Rovers and Filipino-German Roland Muller of MSV Duiberg. Etheridge and Muller’s club commitments kept them from Thursday’s game. Despite Sacapano’s good performance at the recent Peace Cup last September, where Philippines emerge as champion, many still doubted Sacapano’s skills especially in an international match. But Sacapano’s performance in the game versus Singapore proved all his doubters wrong.

5. Watching the football players’ athleticism up close. As a runner, the biggest treat for me was watching the Azkals, particularly center backs Juani Guirado and Rob Gier run and sprint back and forth for 90 minutes (plus 9 minutes stoppage time) the entire 100 x 64 – meter CCSC football field. That’s a lot of running, which makes me love football players all the more.

6. Watching Cebuano Azkals in action. There are three Cebuanos in the Philippine Men’s Football team – Paolo Pascual who is a former varsity player for the University of San Carlos, Filipino-Icelandic Ray Jonsson whose mom hails from Lilo-an and speaks fluent Cebuano and Filipino-German Patrick Reichelt whose mom hails from Argao. Of the three, Jonsson and Reichelt took to the field, while Pascual was a reserved goalkeeper.

7. The miraculous rehabilitation of the Cebu City Sports Center soccer field. From dust bowl to gorgeous field of lush green grass. For two months, the pitch was rehabilitated with equipment from and the help of grass and fairways experts from the Cebu Country Club and Cebu Alta Vista Golf and Country Club.

8. The Cebu Football Association (CFA) led its president Pericles Ricky Dakay, who made it all happen and ensured that all the logistics were in place. During Thursday’s match, CFA members and volunteers ensured that everything, from the billeting requirements, the dress code, the pre-game, actual and post-game protocols were in accordance with FIFA standards. Even the marshaling at the stands was impeccable.

The only thing missing that night was a giant digital clock across the field to show the regulation time elapsed and the minutes of stoppage time added.

9. The Cebu Kaholeros who cheered non-stop from start to finish. For those who don’t know, they were the blue-clad cheering contingent occupying the uncovered bleachers across the main grandstand.

10. Finally, the Cebuano home crowd. They were warm, they were fierce and they wore their love for the Azkals on their sleeves, but were never rude (no booing and catcalls) to the opponent.