The Philippines’ breathtaking run at the ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup 2024 can be achieved more often with some changes.
The Philippine Men’s National Football Team’s (PMNFT) inspiring run in this year’s ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup 2024 finally came to an end in Bangkok on Monday night, 3-1 on the night and 4-3 on aggregate. But the team has much to be proud of after pushing the defending champions to extra time in the second leg and coming within four minutes of sending the semifinal into a penalty shootout.
The Fighting Filipinos will be serial semifinalists in this championship if we can do three things, none of which are easy.
Select the team based on ASEAN Championship availability.
The lead-up to the ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup featured several FIFA international windows, and Albert Capellas’ squad made full use of them, playing friendlies and even pocket tournaments in Thailand and Malaysia.
A slew of players featured in these tune-ups but weren’t on the team for the AFF. The reason is that the biennial ASEAN Championship is not held on FIFA windows, and clubs are not compelled to release players for it. This has been a quirk of this competition for a long time.
The likes of Gerrit Holtmann, Kevin Mendoza, Jeff Tabinas, Jesper Nyholm, Manny Ott, and Sebastian Rasmussen were fielded in the friendlies but were either not released or couldn’t make the Mitsubishi Electric squad for other reasons.
I totally get why the national team management would want to field the best side for these non-competitive games. The PMNFT and PWNFT are pretty much the only football teams that most casual Pinoy fans care about, and winning is important to keep up morale and a positive buzz. Ranking points are also a factor. We want to keep climbing up that ladder. Currently, the men’s team is 150th in the world.
But for the best cohesion, I would rather devote the playing time to players who are sure of being available, or at least highly likely to be available for the Mitsubishi Electric Cup. At the very least, use players who might not make it sparingly in the friendlies.
This means taking players from North America, where the soccer season ends in the fall, or Scandinavia, where there is a long winter break, or the local league, the PFL. The PFL is much more cooperative with its national team than leagues in Thailand, Indonesia, and other ASEAN nations, it seems. Probably because there is a lot at stake in these avidly followed leagues, and clubs are loathe to risk releasing players for international duty only to have them come home tired or injured.
It would need a lot of explaining to the top players who are either in big clubs in ASEAN or in Europe. But the message should be clear: I hope you understand why we aren’t picking you, but for World Cup or Asian Cup qualifiers in international windows, we hope you will be ready.
Strengthen the Local League
Last Friday I looked out onto the vast hordes of fans in the bleachers section of Rizal Memorial Stadium and had an interesting thought.
This was the biggest football crowd of the year. About seven thousand officially, but likely over ten thousand. It was a glorious sight, and a rare one for Filipino football. Not even the UAAP final got close to this.
And yet, in stadia all over Southeast Asia, this kind of crowd is commonplace. In Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam, week in, week out.
In those countries club football is the main course, and international football is the side dish. Clubs like Buriram United, Persib Bandung, and Thanh Hoa pack stadiums to huge enthusiastic crowds. I know because I have watched Persib Bandung in person and seen tens of thousands of their fans support them in an AWAY game south of Jakarta.
The Philippines has players. We have stadia. We have clubs. What is lacking are the fans. Promoting the league will be key to the long-term sustainability of the sport.
A profitable and vibrant league will have two benefits: attracting more overseas-born Filipinos to play here, and raising the level of local players as well. This would widen the pool of good players, increase competition for the national team, and thus raise the standard of the PMNFT when foreign-based players are not available. That can only bode well for future editions of this championship.
We should send more talented kids to train and develop abroad
The overwhelming majority of this squad is overseas, born and bred. But even the ones born in the Philippines have had a taste of football in developed countries.
Sandro Reyes was born in the Philippines but was fortunate to hone his craft in Barcelona’s FCB Escola academy as a youngster. No doubt being in Spain was a massive boost to his career.
Uriel Dalapo is from Kidapawan, but he played two years of high school soccer in Connecticut and did six months of training in Italy. He is a dangerous attacking player who had a shot saved versus Indonesia.
Dov Carino of Ateneo got his first full senior cap against Vietnam. He, like several other Pinoys, studied and played football for a British international school in Phuket, Thailand during his high school days.
Of course, Patrick Deyto and Amani Aguinaldo were developed here but have tons of experience playing club football in Thailand at a very high level. Jarvey Gayoso and Pocholo Bugas ply their trade in Cambodia, where both excel.
Reserve keeper Jun Badelic and Atenean Leo Maquiling are the only members of the squad to be fully developed in the Philippines. Badelic has extensive international club experience, though.
There are many dedicated and hardworking Filipino coaches, but being trained abroad, with the latest methods and tactics, is a level above. And competition abroad is also of a higher standard in every respect. The football culture in a mature footballing nation offers a priceless education to a young player.
Reyes, Dalapo, and Carino really show a path forward for Filipino players: those who are super gifted at a young age should be given a chance to play overseas in developed footballing nations. It’s a great way for them to fully maximize their potential.
Meanwhile, let us savor this tournament and look to the future. There’s plenty of work to be done but the Philippines can and should level up.
Banner image from PMNFT.