Cast nearly complete for Azkals

This appears in the Tuesday February 8, 2011 edition of the Business Mirror.

Cast nearly complete for Azkals

by rick olivares

PANAAD, Bacolod—With one day left before the Asian Football Confederation Challenge Cup match between the Philippines and Mongolia, the City of Smiles is bustling with Azkals fever.

From the new airport in Silay, the roads to the city are lined with streamers from corporate sponsors to the match itself.

Ian de Rama, Panaad Stadium manager, said they are 97-percent done with all preparations for the match.

“In December of 2010, if Panaad was to host that one home match of the Azkals, I can say that we could have gotten it done. Nevertheless, good things come to those who wait. We have issued 18,000 tickets but we expect an overflow crowd. We have asked [television carrier] to put up wide screens outside for those who we can no longer accommodate.”

While there are reports that President Benigno Simeon Aquino III will attend the match, de Ramos said that there has been no sign of any advance members of the Presidential Security Group.

“Normally for a guest appearance by the President, they are in town a week before the event to secure the area,” related de Rama. “Nevertheless, we will have 723 security personnel assigned to Panaad Stadium on the day of the match.”

The match is set at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.

Philippine Football Federation (PFF) president Mariano Araneta confirmed the attendance of Senators Juan Miguel Zubiri and Teofisto Guingona. PFF general secretary Chito Manuel, who arrived here Monday, said that the demand for tickets was just too much. “It’s the hottest ticket in the country,” he said.

Hotels in the city have reported full occupancy with many rooms booked as early as December 2010. The management of East View Hotel, which is 10 minutes away from Panaad Stadium, reported that tourists have begun arriving in earnest for the match.

While the city is bracing itself for the match, the Azkals have almost the entire roster of its successful Suzuki Cup squad in the country. Defender Rob Gier arrived on Monday, one day after ’keeper Neil Etheridge flew in from England.

The only three players from the successful campaign—that began in Laos for the qualifiers to Vietnam for the group stage and ultimately Indonesia for the semifinals—who will be absent are Filipino-German Mark Drinkuth and Filipino-Briton Chris Greatwich who both have commitments to keep and David Mark Basa who is currently playing out his final year with the University of Santo Tomas in the UAAP.

While Azkals German head coach Hans Michael Weiss and the coaching staff will make the announcement of the final lineup on Tuesday, the training pool has been beefed up by the Negros-born Filipino-Britons James and Ryan Hall and Filipino-Belgian Jacques Van Bosche, who was in the area on vacation and walked in for a tryout on Sunday.

Fil-Danes Jerry Lucena and Dennis Cagara, however, had to fly back to Denmark on Sunday because they were unable to secure their Philippine passports in time for the match.

Members of the Mongolian team arrived here on Monday afternoon, but declined to be interviewed.

With former San Miguel player (Australian) Graeme McKinnon. He's a long time Azkals fan who also coached in Cebu. On another note, someone asked about whether Liverpool or Juventus is my favorite football club. My all-time favorite football clubs are the New York Cosmos of the old NASL and Liverpool FC. After those two, I like Juventus, Lyon, FC Barcelona, Ajax Amsterdam, the LA Galaxy (because of Landon Donovan not because of Goldenballs), Boca Juniors, and Santos FC. As for national squads - obviously the Philippines. But there's also France, Germany, and the United States. Hope that settles it.