The
French have this saying: “Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose”. In
English: “the more things change, the more they stay the same”.
Last
Thursday afternoon (November 24), I listened to German football official Eckard
Krautzun's findings on what ails Philippine football and where it needs to be
helped. Unfortunately, I came away disappointed. And they called a press
conference for this?
With
all due respect to Mr. Krautzun who coached the national team to a fourth place
in the 1991 Southeast Asian Games, there is nothing new from what he said – how
we need to have more fields, more equipment, more support, a grassroots program
etc. I, along with every other football official have heard this before – in
the Bernhard Zgoll report of 1978 as well as the Asian Football Confederation
commissioned Vision Asia Report of 2008. I have heard that in a couple of PFF
Congresses and seminars with local football officials (some of the current PFF
officials were even around to assist the AFC in the Vision Asia fact finding in
2008). Unless there is collective amnesia from these same officials then this
is déjà vu all over again.
And
why does it take a foreign adviser for people to listen when all the local
football officials have been reciting the litany of the same problems for
years. This reminds me of how for years we have complained about the Ninoy
Aquino International Airport and only when it is named the world’s worst
airport that something is finally done about it. This is so mollifying.
Maybe
you will argue that 2011 is different from 2008.
Sure
it is. There are more sponsors now, more foreign support (the Japanese, Germans
etc.), and there are people in the stands. Perhaps the best development is a
positive feeling about the growth of football.
Then
again. In some respect, it isn’t when you consider the disastrous stint of the
Under-23 national squad in the 26th
Sea Games in Jakarta, Indonesia. That team had better financial or fan support.
Have we not learned anything from the past?
It
was 2004 when the FBOC program of Aris Caslib, the current PFF Technical
Director, was put in place. That call for the short-term augmentation of the
national team by “Filipinos Based Outside the Country” or "FBOC" (a
euphemism for Fil-foreigners) with the expectancy that the grassroots program
will produce top-caliber players in the years to come. Even then, we had
the same problems – players arriving late to camp, no chemistry, and the locals
were displaced at the expense of some not so good players.
Seven
years later, nothing has changed. Not even the preparation. And the homegrown
talents are a shrinking cast! What's up with that and what went on during the
football tournament of the 26th
Southeast Asian Games?
In
the senior squad, there is only one homegrown talent in the starting eleven. In
the U-23, how many started – one, two, three maybe? The FBOCs arrive days
before the tournament displacing the locals who have been training with the
team. The locals gave up stints in the University Games to train with the
national team. One even chose not to play with a UFL team to concentrate on the
national squad. Now was the quality of the FBOCs better than the locals? A few.
Then chemistry is non-existent.
And
when forming a national team – please do not insult the locals by saying that
they are inferior to the FBOCs. And some of them use the term “Filipino” as if
it were pejorative. “Don’t be Filipino,” a few said. And please, when handing
out the captainship, give it to the most deserving player rather than someone
who does not command the respect of the team.
The
Under-23 National Cup was disregarded. Who from the national team scouted that?
No one. Maybe you can grant it that an assistant coach went to watch one half
of a match. One half.
In
the aforementioned press conference, I asked Krautzun and national head coach
Michael Weiss if they thought that management and coaching of the senior and
U-23 as well as the other age-group teams should be under one aegis. Krautzun
first related how in Germany it is a problem when the senior squad’s Joachim
Low has a different philosophy from U-21 coach Rainier Adrion and how it’s the
same when you go down the other age-levels.
Yet
it was Eckard’s belief that both the senior and U-23 teams should be under one
coach/management while the others should be under another but all following the
philosophy and blueprint mapped out by the PFF’s football program director.
I’m
still scratching my head about that. They’re fractious in Germany’s FA yet they
will be helping us in our grassroots program and telling us to be unlike them
in structure.
And
when I asked if they wanted to imprint a “German style of play” and if so what
that was (for the benefit of those who do not understand the technical aspect),
I got a vague answer. “Develop a Philippine-style of play,” said Weiss.
If
there has been anything revolutionary about football in the last 60 years one
of them has been the creation of the 4-4-2 formation that quickly replaced the
“WM” formation. The other is the “total football” espoused by the Dutch.
Whether
generic European or the current Spanish or German style of play, it has taken
influences from Argentinean club River Plate’s 1950s teams to English manager
Jack Reynolds to Ajax Amsterdam and Netherlands coach Rinus Michaels to
ultimately Johan Cruyff who helped develop FC Barcelona’s La Masia Academy that
has produced players like Andres Iniesta, Gerard Pique, and Francesc Fabregas
to name a few. In short, modern football can be distilled into all-around
efficiency and technical ability with as little wastage in its passing and
movement. And any “Philippine-style of play” will resemble this.
For
years Germany’s still of play was derided as sterile and boring until the 2006
World Cup when then head coach Jurgen Klinsmann opted for a more dynamic attack
that successor Joachim Low has refined. And to Michael Weiss’ (as well as
predecessors Desmond Bulpin and Simon McMenemy) credit, he has tried to install
a more attacking system to the Azkals that for the most part has been
successful.
The
long ball that many deride is still played but not as a rule. I think even
before the national team gained massive popularity following the successful
2010 Suzuki Cup, the quality of local football players has increased. That was
because of a long and arduous process that began during the time of Andres
Soriano Jr. as PFF President. From there, we’ve seen influx of foreign coaches
and players as well as the overseas training local coaches and players. We’ve
seen a change in tactics where there’s a more ground-based style of play.
Former
national player and coach Bert Honasan shared that it personally took him four
international tournaments to get over his nerves in playing in front of a
stadium of thousands. That experience helps and the creation of bigger stadia
and playing in foreign tournaments will help. The Chieffy Caligdong that we all
see now is much better than the one that debuted in 2004. That comes not just
from maturity but also the training and exposure that he’s received.
In
that respect, Coach Eckard is right. More exposure will help but I do not see
the point in taking shots at basketball (as they did in the presscon). Excuse
me but in case you missed it, Sinag won a gold while the Under-23 team to use
Weiss’ words “was a failure.”
Should
that comparison stand, then know that Smart Gilas Pilipinas head coach Rajko
Toroman was the ultimate hoops junkie as he watched not only the PBA but the
UAAP and the NCAA as well. And when he got home, there was the NBA and the
Euroleague that he watched on television or on his laptop. As for our football
officials, they never even watched the Under-23 or Under-19 tournaments last
summer. And Weiss hardly watches the UFL.
I
think that we all know what changes Philippine football needs. We’ve known it
for years. What we really need is a “can do” attitude and a change in mindset.
And maybe a personnel change in many of our officials.
