The vibe, ebbs and flows & Azkals watching

This appears in inthezone.com.ph

The vibe, ebbs and flows & Azkals watching

by rick olivares pic by brosi gonzales

The night before the July 3 home match, I sat with Aly Borromeo at the lobby of the Diamond Hotel. “You seem to be good with making predictions,” he said pushing away his iPad. “What do you think about tomorrow?”

“We’re going to win, 3-0,” I said without batting an eyelash. “Chieffy, Phil, and Angel will score.”

“Wow! You really have that much faith in us, ha,” laughed the national team skipper who exchanged a high five with me.

“Well, I got that vibe again.”

“Like Vietnam?”

“Yep.”

Before the post-July 3 match press conference, Aly said to me, “You called it right again.”

Well, we scored four goals and gave up none but who cares about predictions? The win is way way more important than any of that.

While it may sound like sheer coincidence, sometimes there are patterns here.

Last year, on the way to the group stages of the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup, I joined the team for the first time since 2008. I was banned by the former PFF President for writing against him and the federation not only from the premises but also from interviewing the national squad. If I needed information, I went to their practices in San Beda where Aris Caslib provided me with information about the national team despite the ban. Of course, it was all off the record so I never wrote about the stuff we discussed. Nevertheless, I should thank coach.

Surprisingly, the same president allowed me to rejoin the team in 2008 as media officer. There was a new coach and some new players. But the core was the same and friendships were quickly rekindled.

The team looked different. Not in terms of personnel but in the way they carried themselves. They knew they had a good team with good players. I felt the same way when I first joined Smart Gilas Pilipinas – that quiet confidence and firm resolve.

During the press conference for the Suzuki Cup, there were over a hundred media people in attendance. All the questions asked were directed to Singapore’s Raddy Abramovich and Vietnam’s Henrique Callisto. Myanmar’s Tyin Mint Aung was also asked his share of questions.

Standing in the back, the coaches and I noticed that national coach Simon McMenemy looked distraught and uneasy with the media snub.

The team flew into Vietnam after getting thrashed by a Thai club team 8-nil. The lineup wasn’t complete but it still wasn’t an ideal situation going into the group stage.

Nevertheless, the team remained upbeat as everyone soon began to arrive.

Everyday, I interviewed McMenemy on my videocam (I have some 20 discs of the journey in Vietnam and Indonesia). After the press conference for the match against Singapore, Rob Gier asked me what I thought our chances.

I said against Singapore, we’d beat them 1-nil with the worst scenario being a draw. Well, we drew.

After the press conference with Vietnam ended, Chris Greatwich and Coach Simon asked me how I figured. I said, Callisto had unwittingly exposed his flaw – his own hubris and being susceptible to criticism. We’ll beat Vietnam 2-nil.

The two nodded. I guess they probably thought I was daft. The defending champs going down to us? Seriously? Oh, yes. 

It isn’t misplaced faith. You see, the team had been patiently building up. From Caslib to Norman Fegidero Jr. to Juan Cutillas to Desmond Bulpin to McMenemy. They were no longer young adults when many of them came up in 2004 and 2005. Some were entering their prime while others were not yet there. But they were rounding out into a team. And besides, Vietnam  belittled us and they paid for it.

As history recorded it, we snuck under the radar and dropped a nuclear bomb on the unsuspecting footballing scene. Chris and Coach sought me out after, “Yes, you called it right.”

When the Azkals played the United Football League All-Stars, I didn’t tab them to win. This time for many reasons. One, they were coming off a layoff. Two, they hardly win friendlies. And three, any time you play a team of guys who all want to be on a national team especially when you have former national players, they take to the pitch with extra motivation. The 4-3 result hardly surprised me. It’s not a lack of faith unlike Vietnam or unlike Sri Lanka.

It’s not clairvoyance or dumb luck. It’s studying the ebbs and flows of the team, their rhythm, and how they come into the game. And of course, the team they are playing.

There were the four matches in Germany where they were thrashed by a collective score of 9-0 in their last two games. Then they drew with Sri Lanka in the away match.

Oh, boy, were they disappointed and pissed. They did not get the job done in Sri Lanka. And so it would come to the ultimate game in Manila. And boy, were they primed for it.

Some might argue that there was a misplaced overconfidence. I thought that they knew they had not played to their potential and a serious butt kicking was in the offing.

Against Kuwait, so how do I figure? They Kuwaitis will be like the Myanmar team. They have taken a long and hard look at the Azkals and will come in prepared.

It is said that the defense of the Philippines is the chink in the armor. I disagree. In fact, I will rephrase that.

The key has always been the midfield. They either act as stoppers or feed the ball for the hungry forwards. If they cannot get their game going then that’s it.

During the Suzuki Cup, Myanmar studied the tapes quite well – stop Chris Greatwich from linking up with James Younghusband and the forwards.

I have maintained that all Indonesia had to do was study what Myanmar did. They discombobulated our midfield.

I will not fully credit the Sri Lankans in their home match for that. Their horrible pitch also did us in.

Yet now we will not have Stephan Schrock for the first leg of the series versus Kuwait. He is probably the heir to Greatwich in the midfield. Yet not only has he shown flashes of brilliance but also an explosive temper.

Just as we had that great group stage in the Suzuki Cup and the AFC Challenge Cup, here we are again with the whole world watching.

How do I see it? All I can say it’s going to be tough in Kuwait. It will be like Indonesia all over again. If we can hold them in Kuwait City, get a draw, and I-hope-to-God a win, or keep them to a solitary goal, that’s good. Because we’ll be going home where anything can happen.