Suzuki Cup: Semifinal tickets now on Sale

Tickets for the first ever Suzuki Cup semifinal match held in Philippine soil is now out on sale. Filipino football fans can now purchase tickets for the December 8 match-up between the Philippine Azkals and Singapore Lions at the historic Rizal Memorial Stadium.  Those who want to root for the beloved Azkals can now buy tickets at Ticketworld outlets.  Fans can also get their tickets via online purchase at ticketworld.com.ph.  Suzuki Cup semifinal tickets are priced at P3,000, P2,000, P1,000, P500, and P300. Online purchases will have ticket fees.

Fans are really encouraged to go out and support the Azkals as they face a very familiar foe.  In fact, the Azkals have beaten Singapore in a friendly held in Cebu City just last month.  If the Azkals manage to hurdle Singapore, they will be in their first ever Suzuki Cup finals.

For more information about tickets you may email ticketworld at tickets@ticketworld.com.ph or call them at +632 891.9999 or Fax at +632 891.5634.

 

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• PH scores first goal vs Myanmar in second half of Suzuki Cup (sports.inquirer.net)
• Chieffy Caligdong leads PH past Vietnam (sports.inquirer.net)
• Azkals-Lions tickets go on sale today (newsinfo.inquirer.net)

2012 Suzuki Cup: Azkals through the semis again after beating Myanmar

Supachalasai Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand- For the first time in history, the Philippines defeated SouthEast Asian neighbors Myanmar in an official football game.  The 2-0 victory also meant that the 2010 semifinal participation of the Philippine Azkals was not a fluke as they are once again in the Final 4 of Southeast Asia’s premier football tournament.

Phil Younghusband was very aggressive right at the get-go. His efforts to break a scoring slump were eventually rewarded at the start of the second half when he received a pass from Jason de Jong and evaded two defenders for his first goal in this year’s Suzuki Cup.  Angel Guirado added the nail in the coffin in stoppage time as he clinically converted a long ball to bring the Philippines back to the semifinals.  Goalkeeper Ed Sacapano was once again credited with a clean sheet just like the previous game against Vietnam.

With the victory, the Azkals finished the group phase with 6 points owing to its win over Vietnam and Myanmar.  Their lone tormentor Thailand won the group by sweeping all its matches at their home turf.

In 2010 when the Philippines were not allowed to host their home leg of the semifinals because the country did not have a stadium that met FIFA standards.  In this year’s edition however, Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila is booked on December 8 for the match between the Azkals and top qualifier from the other group.  It is expected that Filipino fans will flock to the legendary venue as the Azkals go for a historic final appearance.  Details on tickets for the match will be announced very soon.

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2012 Singapore Cup quarterfinals first leg: Loyola Meralco Sparks beat Kanbawza FC 3-1

Sparks wins 3-1 in their Singapore Cup QF first leg (photo from interaksyon.com)

Jalan Besar Stadium, Singapore – After a disappointing 3rd place finish in the United Football League (UFL), the Loyola Meralco Sparks somehow vented their frustrations to Myanmar‘s Kanbawza FC  and beat them 3-1, in the first leg of their quarterfinal pairing of the 2012 Singapore Cup.  The Sparks survived a very physical match against a tough Myanmar side who were reduced to nine players by the end of 90 minutes after Hia Aye Htwe and Kyaw Zayar Win earned cards from vicious fouls.

Philippine Azkal regular Phil Younghusband opened the scoring for the Loyola 11 by scoring from a great cross by South Korean Jeong Byeong-yeol in the 15th minute. Kanbawza FC then suffered a major blow early in the game when starting goalkeeper Kyaw Zin Htet  have to be substituted by Yawai Zin after getting injured trying to stop the Sparks first score.

Kanbawza FC were hard-pressed to equalize and they were the more aggressive side in the first half.  In the 33rd minute striker Soe Min Oo had a good attempt at the goal but he was called offside. In the 41st minute, Kyaw Zayar Win got his first yellow card after being booked for diving inside the penalty area. With calls not going their way, the Myanmar side grew very frustrated and it led to a red card to Hia Aye Htwe who got tangled with James Younghusband just before the halftime whistle.

Despite playing with just ten men, it was the Myanmar 11 who first had a serious attempt in the final half as Soe Min Oo had another attempt but was cleared by Andres Gonzales just a few minutes at the start of the new half.  Matthew Hartmann, however, doubled the lead of Meralco in the 66th minute by finishing an elegant cross from the left by Phil Younghusband. Three minutes later, Kanbawza FC were down to 9 men after Kyaw Zayar Win earned another yellow card after a foul on Park Min-ho.  Kanbawza though refused to give up without a fight as they scored in the 75th minute when national team striker Soe Min Oo connected with Brazilian Tercio Machado.

The Younghusbands though, combined to give an insurance goal for the Philippine side in injury time.  James Younghusband scored from an impressive one-two with brother Phil giving the Loyola Meralco Sparks a formidable lead going to their second leg match on Sunday.

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UFL 2011-2012 Awards

The championship and the major awards for the 2011-12 season of the United Football League has been decided. Here are this year’s major awardees:

Division I:

Champion: Global FC

Runner-up: Kaya FC

3rd place: Loyola Meralco Sparks

Golden Ball: Carli De Murga, Global FC

Golden Boot: Phil Younghusband, Loyola Meralco Sparks 23 goals

Golden Glove: Saba Garmaroudi, Kaya FC

Fair Play Award: Global FC

Division II:

Champion: Pachanga FC

Runner-up: Diliman Victory Liner FC

3rd Place: Cebu Queen City United FC

Golden Ball: Alfredo “Freddy” Gonzales, Pachanga FC

Golden Boot: Freddy Gonzales, Pachanga FC 34 goals

Golden Glove: Kenneth Dolloso

Fair Play Award: Manila-All Japan

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Azkals Scandal: PFF demands apology from Arnold Clavio

As media try to swoop in on the latest buzz on the Philippine Men’s national football squad, the spotlight has turn to GMA News anchor Arnold Clavio after he made some comments about the recent controversy that the some Azkals are involved in. In the morning show “Unang Hirit“, Clavio said “Hindi naman kayo Pilipino, nagpapanggap lang kayong kayumanggi, hindi kayo dito lumaki, mahirap iyun.” (You are not Filipino, you are pretending to be brown-skinned, you did not grow up here, that’s difficult)

Clavio was talking about the sexual harassment case that Cristy Ramos has filed against Angel Guirado and Lexton Moy in the particular segment of GMA 7′s morning show. The comments drew several negative reactions from Azkal fans and netizens. The new controversy even elicited comments from some Azkal members like Neil Etheridge.

The Philippine Football Federation (PFF) is taking on the cudgels for its players as they demanded a public apology from the network for the alleged “racist, discriminatory, libelous and malicious” statements made by Arnold Clavio. The letter signed by PFF President Mariano Araneta, also asked the network to sanction the TV host for his “discriminatory, racist and libelous assertions”.

Here is a copy of the text of the PFF Letter:

Azkals book a semis seat at the Asian Football Confederation Challenge Cup

Image via Wikipedia

Nepal- The Philippine men‘s national football team popularly known as the Azkals lived to its billing as one of the most improved football national teams in the world by booking a semifinal slot in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Challenge Cup by beating former Challenge Cup champs Tajikistan, 2-1. The Philippines finished second in their group after winning against India (2-0) and Tajikistan days after dropping a tough 0-2 match against holders North Korea. Their group was considered the group of death with the Azkals bunched with 3 former AFC Challenge Cup champions.

The Azkals sing the national anthem before the match (via Goalnepal.com)

The Azkals were controlling the game but conceded a goal before halftime. In the 2nd half, it was the same story but the Philippines were successful in two of its chances. Filipino-Spanish Angel Guirado was the star for the Philippines as he fired a perfect cross to Phil Younghusband in the 54th minute. Guirado’s industrious effort led to the 3rd goal of Younghusband in the tournament.  Guirado pressed hard to steal the ball in the left flank before passing it to the wide open striker.

The game-winner came at the 79th minute as Guirado towered everyone for a fine header of a Phil Younghusband pass. It was marvelous game for Guirado who seems not so affected by the controversy that he is facing. Guirado and teammate Lexton Moy has a standing sexual harassment complaint from former Philippine Olympic Committee president Cristy Ramos.

Coach Michael Weiss was ecstatic with a victory. He declared that “This is a historic day! We have actually been making history throughout the tournament but that is not comparable to today,” He added ”I am moved. I am honoured and proud to be coach of this team.”

It is great day indeed for the Azkals but their job is not finished yet. The Azkals will face Turkmenistan for a slot in the finals. Palestine and North Korea will dispute the other slot. The winner of the tournament will get a spot at the prestigious AFC Asian Cup.

The Man of the Match Angel Guirado (photo from goalnepal.com)

caloycomment: Angel Guirado is in the center of attention again and this time, it is for good reason … MORE

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Champion’s League: Record-breaking Messi scored 5 goals!

Barcelona, Spain – Defending champions Barcelona basically just needed a draw to advance to the semi-finals in this year’s Champion’s League as they beat Bayer Leverkusen in Germany 3-1 in the first league. Lionel Messi had no plans of just standing around, instead, he became the first player to ever score 5 goals in a European Champion’s league match. His astonishing feat left fans and best players of this generation in awe.

Wayne Rooney tweeted “Messi is a joke. For me the best ever,”

Brazilian rising star Neymar said “I am a Messi fan. I was told what he did today. I support him to score a lot of nice goals so I can keep copying and imitating him.”

Cesc Fabregas of Barcelona added “You can expect anything from Leo, He is the best player in history, we have never seen anyone like him.”

Messi, a 3-time winner of FIFA player of the year, keeps on adding to his legend. He scored goals in the 25th, 42nd, 49th, 58th, and 84th minutes of the game. It was his 17th career hat trick for Barca. His 5-goal feat just came barely 2 weeks after victimizing Valencia with 4 goals last February 19. In 42 games so far this season with Barcelona, Messi scored 48 goals and was credited with 20 assists.

Lionel Messi is indeed having a season of the ages.

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Azkal Scandal 2012: 24 Oras interview with Ms. Cristy Ramos

Ms. Cristy Ramos wants the whole Azkals team to be punished for the incident before the Philippine National football team faced the Malaysia National team in a friendly last month. She already filed sexual harassment raps against Lexton Moy and Angel Guirado with Asian Football Confederation disciplinary committee.

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Azkal Scandal?? Cristy Ramos accuses 2 Azkals of sexual harassment

A sexual harassment complaint was filed by Cristy Ramos against football players Lexton Moy and Angel Guirado before the  disciplinary committee of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The case stemmed from an incident before the friendly game between Philippines and Malaysia last February 29. She sent a letter addressed to Mr. Lim Kia Tong, chairman of the AFC Disciplinary Committee.  The letter detailed her experience while being Match Commissioner of the friendly.

In her letter she said that as the Match Commissioner, it was her responsibility to check and verify the player’s identifications before the game. The Philippine National Football Team popularly known as the Azkals were at their changing room when she was to inspect the players. She narrated that the players were rowdy and did not take the inspections seriously.  No. 25 (Lexton Moy) stood by her said and apparently said “Must be a B cup”, the remark elicited laughter from the other players. No. 12 (Angel Guirado) was only wearing his briefs during his inspection while the other players keep on laughing according to Ms. Ramos, who is a daughter of ex-President Fidel V. Ramos.

Moy, Guirado, and the rest of the Azkals are now in Nepal for the AFC Challenge Cup. They will face North Korea on March 9. Last year, some Azkal members were accused of rape by a model but the issue eventually died down as no formal charges were filed while the accused players vehemently denied any wrongdoing.

caloycomment: Since we are now employing “professional” players in our national team then they should act accordingly… more

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9th Thirsty Cup Winners

The 9th Thirsty Football Cup was held earlier this month at the University of San Carlos-Talamban Football Field and the San Roque Football Field in Mandaue. The rains did not stop the players from giving their all to achieve football glory. Here are the results of the finals matches of the different divisions:

Players 6: Olles FC over Center For International Education

Players 8: Barili FC over FFA Masbate

Players 10: Cebu International School wins against DBTC-A

Girls 17: SHS-Ateneo tops Saint Theresa’s College

Boys 17: USC beats Abellana National School

Girls 19: USC outpoints SHS-Ateneo

Boys 19: Abellana National School over University of San Carlos

36-above: ERCO FC over Rising Sun

42-above: ERCO FC noses out San Roque FC

Men’s Open: KTEK Trading won via shootout against San Roque Nawanao

Women’s Open: San Roque FC (due to the disqualification of Chicos)

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