Bleachers Brew: The Younghusband brothers select their Dream Teams

The Younghusband brothers select their Dream Teams

by rick olivares

You remember when we used to pick sides in the playground? This guy is your teammate. This other one is yours and so forth.

Football isn’t simply a child’s game. It’s grown to be much more than that. It’s huge. In fact, it’s the world game.

But the game has come full circle to when you used to pick sides in the Clear Dream Match Draft. And perhaps even better, it’s giving back to the children of the Tuloy sa Don Bosco Foundation.

James and Phil Younghusband have made it just as much as their career to teach football to the young. The sport continues to be good for them and they are not going to wait until their old to give back.

For about an hour, the brothers along with their colleagues from the United Football League and a few from the celebrity world, played a series of exhibition matches with kids from Tuloy sa Don Bosco as well as from Muntinlupa. They played seven-a-side and sometime barefoot football. Now this was taking the game back to its roots.

When the festivities were down, it was down to James and Phil once more to choose sides.

From a pool of 50 players, fans voted their Top 40 players on the Clear Dream Match Facebook Page. And it was among those 40 players that the Younghusband brothers chose to play for their particular side. The first five players they personally got to pick while for the rest of their lineup they had to pick out names from a pot.

Phil won the coin toss and got to pick first. And his choice – the first ever pick of the Clear Dream Match Draft -- was Kaya goalkeeper Saba Garmaroudi. Of Garmaroudi, the dentistry student from the University of the East, Phil said: “He’s the toughest goalkeeper to score on. I want him on my side.”

Rounding out his first five selections revealed his hand – a defensive oriented squad: defenders Park Minho (Loyola), Yves Ashime (Pachanga), Roxy Dorlas (Loyola), and Armand del Rosario (Kaya).

James’ choices were more offensive oriented: Nate Burkey (Kaya) and Patrick Bocobo (Green Archers United) at forward, Anton del Rosario (Kaya) and Jonah Romero (Kaya) on defense, and Patrick Deyto (Green Archers United) at goal.

Then the brothers alternated into dipping into the pots to flesh out their respective squads of 20.

Team James:

Goalkeeper: Ref Cuaresma (Loyola)

Defenders: Patrick Ozaeta (Loyola), Reymark Fernandez (Diliman), Ronald Batisla-Ong (Pachanga), Andrew Santiago (Diliman), Steven Silva (Team Socceroo), and Nico Bolzico (Kaya).

Midfielders: Marvin Kiefer (actor/model), Jolo Durian, Jake Cuenca (Team Socceroo), Slick Rick (Boy’s Nite Out), and Mikko Mabanag (Agila).

Forwards: Rudy del Rosario (Homeless World Cup), Eric Dagroh (Kaya), and

Andrew Wolff (Philippine Volcanoes).

Team Phil:

Goalkeeper: Wilson Muñoz (goalkeeper)

Defenders: Dexter Versario (Loyola), Janrick Soriano (Pachanga), Alvin Ocampo (Pachanga).

Midfielders: Rafael Rosell (actor/model), Paolo Bediones (TV5), Daniel Matsunaga (Team Socceroo), Tony Toni (Boys Nite Out), Davide Cortina (Loyola), Jeong Byeong Yeol (Loyola), OJ Clarino (Stallion).

Forwards: Eric Tai (Philippine Volcanoes), Yannick Tuason (Kaya), Freddy Gonzalez (Pachanga), and Fabio Ide (Team Socceroo).

After the two selected their respective squads, they had one last pick to make – the wild card pick – where they could choose anyone who wasn’t even included in the draft.

In a totally unexpected move, James chose the Philippine Men’s Football National Team’s physical therapist Wally Javier. “Wally’s close to Phil and this way, Wally wouldn’t be on his side,” struck the elder Younghusband as the competitive juices began to flow.

Phil countered with a more sound and tactical choice – Loyola midfielder Anto Gonzales.

As for their respective coaching staff: Phil will have Loyola club president and former national striker Randy Roxas on his side while James will have Loyola assistant coach Vincent Santos – also a former national player) – to aide him.

A cursory glance at the respective squads, Team Phil looks to be more defensively sound while Team James has a lot more scoring punch up front. But Phil will have alongside him scoring machine and former national player Freddy Gonzalez who led all goalscorers in the last UFL season with over 30 goals to his name.

When I asked John Imperial of Clear Brand Manager who would win the Clear Dream Match, his answer was: “The fans and the kids of Tuloy sa Don Bosco Foundation.”

The playground will be revisited and it’s going to be a lot of fun.

See you all at the University of Makati on August 25. Kickoff is at 630pm. Admission is FREE.