A new squad is announced for the AFC Women’s Futsal Asian Cup Qualifiers. But there are some concerns behind the scenes.
More drama in the world of Philippine football. Or futsal, to be specific.
On Tuesday, the PFF unveiled the final roster of players for the qualifier for the AFC Women’s Futsal Asian Cup starting in a few days. Only five players are holdovers from the national team led by Vic Hermans that drew one game against Myanmar, lost heavily to Thailand and Vietnam, and just fell 2-1 to Indonesia at the ASEAN Championship last November here in the Philsports Arena.
The camp for this campaign was slated to start January 4, with Hermans and many of the players taking a Christmas break. But a letter from the PFF addressed to the players dated December 20 asked the players to come to camp from December 26 to 30, a development that was news to coach Hermans.
Eventually PFF decided to reassign Hermans to the men’s futsal team and have appointed Spaniard Rafa Merino Rodriguez as the head coach. The national futsal teams manager, Danny Moran, appears to have lost his position as well. Moran and other stakeholders in futsal, like folks from Fairplay for all Foundation, Tuloy Foundation, and Azzuri FC, have reacted online with anger at these decisions. These entities have all supplied players for the national futsal team.
All this is happening less than a year away from the Philippines’ historic hosting of the first-ever FIFA Women’s Futsal World Cup.
Backgrounder
First of all, let’s answer two questions: who is Vic Hermans? And who is Danny Moran?
Vic Hermans is a 71-year-old who has succeeded as both a player and coach in futsal, the five-a-side, usually indoor, form of football played on a smooth surface. As a player Hermans was a star, helping the Netherlands to a runner-up finish to world power Brazil in the 1989 Futsal World Cup. (What is it with the Dutch and runner-up finishes in World Cups??)
As a coach Hermans led three different teams to futsal world cups and was the gaffer when Iran won the Asian Futsal Championship in 2001. He has also coached Thailand, and by all accounts seems to be a very respected figure in this variant of the game. He came to the Philippines in 2020 in an advisory role and then transitioned to being the women’s national team coach.
Danny Moran is a former national team player and businessman. He leads two thriving food and beverage chains, Amici for Italian food, (the Chicken Parmigiana is to die for), and Cara Mia for dessert. (Turtle pie gelato!) But more importantly to our story, he has been a futsal benefactor for at least almost a decade through the Henry V. Moran Foundation. Moran was key to getting Hermans on board.
The Moran Foundation stages the Liga Eskwela tournament that allows kids from public schools to enjoy competitive futsal. Youngsters from the community I supported in Western Bicutan played in this competition, and I even refereed a few games in the very young age groups. It is still ongoing.
The biggest success of the Moran Foundation is perhaps the Allianz National Youth Futsal Invitational. It ran for three editions until the pandemic stopped it. The nationwide competition had U16 and U14 divisions, and thousands of boys and girls experienced competitive futsal through it. Allianz also donated 2m by 3m futsal goal frames to the communities.
Moran was also instrumental in spreading futsal in the Gawad Kalinga communities, which have produced UAAP players.
Danny Moran also established and funded the High5 futsal league, where teams like Tuloy, Azzurri, Umak, PUP, and RTU all compete and raise the standard of the game.
Moran is a consistent patron of futsal, the most grassroots-friendly version of the game. In all my dealings with him he has been sincere, humble, and kind.
Under Moran’s leadership Hermans came to the Philippines and started to boost our futsal women’s team. The Dutchman coached the Philippine women in a triangular friendly competition in 2023 and coaxed an all-homegrown team to a stunning 1-0 win over New Zealand after three losses.
‘Very odd’ turn of events
Danny Moran has been a great gift to Philippine football and futsal. I honestly believe that for all he has done for the game, he should have been regarded with more deference by the federation, for whom he has served on the executive committee in the past. And yet the PFF leadership obviously felt he was no longer fit for the job, and had to leave ASAP.
It is perfectly understandable for a federation to sour on a coach and manager and want a change. This happens all the time. Maybe the results last November were unacceptable to the PFF. (I think with limited expectations, they were more than okay.) So yes, believing new leadership is needed is a reasonable opinion. We also cannot know everything that has gone on between PFF and the camp of Moran and Hermans.
But the way the leadership was shifted was, in my opinion, not ideal. When a scheduled training camp that is supposed to happen in fifteen days is suddenly pushed forward to six days from now, that is very odd. When it is done without the head coach’s knowledge, it is rather strange. When the new schedule is right smack dab in the middle of Christmas and New Year’s, it is doubly, trebly, weird.
If the federation wanted to have different leadership for the squad, perhaps they should have waited until this qualifying competition was over. Then if the Philippines did not qualify for the main event, there could be a fresh start. Instead we have an abrupt change that has left a bitter taste in many mouths.
Yes, there are two or three sides to a story, but the optics are not great for the NSA. It’s also unfortunate that so soon after the thrilling semifinals run of the men’s football team at the Mitsubishi Electric, we are once again dogged by off-field troubles.
This late switch has also resulted in a team that is almost completely different from previous iterations of the squad. All the cohesion built in the past few months is gone. Some players grew up through GK and Allianz futsal tournaments. They developed all the way into the national team. Now they are still training together, but in the “old,” now unofficial national team of Hermans and Moran.
But the PFF can still come out of this smelling like a rose. The solution is simple: win. If the new national team comes out strong and gets results against Kuwait, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Australia, then they qualify for the main tournament in May. That competition will be a great preparation for the World Cup, which we have automatically qualified for as hosts. If that happens PFF will be vindicated in these bold moves. They can say they made the tough call and that it was the right one. But the pressure is massive on Coach Merino’s side.
So therefore, we wish this team well. And hope for healing, reconciliation, and a smooth preparation for the World Cup after.
Banner Images from the PFF.