Skip to main content

TEEN AZKALS: The Future of Philippine Football



While all eyes are on the Philippine National Football Team or Philippine AZKALS as they prepare for the next qualifying game against Kuwait, the next generation members of the team called Teen AZKALS will be competing in the ASEAN Football Federation Under-16 Youth Championship 2011 in Vientiane, Laos from July 7 to 21.

The Philippine Azkals’ goal to qualify to the FIFA World Cup remains a question, as the long road to World Cup will entail them to compete with several national football teams including Kuwait who has been playing for a long time and is ranked 101st to Philippines 159th  in the world. The Kuwait has appeared once in World Cup and 8 times in AFC, and has even won the AFC Cup in 1980.  Even manager Dan Palami admits “the chances are quite slim but that is all they need to attain victory as long as they train with their heart.” And certainly the Filipinos are rooting for them, but whether they do qualify or not, the Azkals has brought football to the hearts of a country that has always been into basketball.

The future Azkals is also here. The Teen Azkals is composed of under-16 years old football players from different high schools in different parts of the Philippines. The team is led by head coach Tomasito Glenn Ramos and manager Alvin Carranza.

If given the proper support, I believe that the Teen Azkals can go a long way. The Philippine Football Federation (PFF) has channeled some of their budgets for the further development of the players since these kids are the future of Philippine Football. If we do well in giving them the necessary support in trainings, mentoring, complete sports gear, and many more, the Philippine football will reap the rewards in the future. If properly trained, this may be the team to propel us to World Cup.

So I say let us all support the present, the Philippine Azkals, and the future of Philippine football, the Teen Azkals. 

Popular posts from this blog

Reminders For My Teenage Son

The other day I had a discussion with my 13 year old son about his blatant disregard for my instructions and the PDRRMC Advisory 2:  “Even in the absence of signals from Pagasa and in view of emerging consensus that the rains are likely further accelerate, for the safety and health of our community, we hereby order the EARLY DISMISSAL OF CLASSES in Kinder, Elementary and Highschool, private and public, in the entire province of Albay. School administrators and teachers should advise their students to no longer report in the afternoon. Parents are advised to fetch their children from school. This is an early dismissal, not a suspension, thus classes automatically resume tomorrow without need for lifting. I came home from the office earlier than he did and so I talked to him. He was silent and at first I thought he understood why I was very mad about it. But then when he replied to me with three suggestions including transferring him to the school in our town so he would not be able ...

KONY 2012: Make Kony Famous

KONY 2012 from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo . Make Joseph Kony famous.  This is the new call to action by the non-profit organization Invisible Children whose mission is to educate people about the ongoing war in Central Uganda, who wants to make the world's worst living criminal famous so that people will know and care enough to bombard policymakers in doing something to stop Kony and his army. Over the past 26 years, Kony has abducted more than 30,000 children. He and his army rapes the girls and turns them into sex slaves. He arms the little boys with guns and forces them to become foot soldiers and do horrible things including killing their own parents. They mutilate people's face by cutting off their nose, ears and lips. As a mother I can only imagine the horror their parents are experiencing.  So I am making a stand and I am counting on you to help me. Let us all work towards a better tomorrow for our children. By showing the world who Joseph Kony is and what dia...

UP Education: Where is it going?

Last Friday I read  the news about the young woman who committed suicide because she was being asked to pay off her loan and she couldn't take it anymore. As one of the those students who experienced the first time the UP system used the Socialized Tuition and Financial Assistance Program  or STFAP, as it is more popularly known, I was also one of the first of thousands of students who opposed it. Supposedly, the STFAP calculates school fees based on students' family income, in a bid to minimize state support for those capable of paying full tuition and divert funds to the financially needy. It is supposed to adjust the tuition fee's based on the capacity of the student to pay. Unfortunately, getting the correct bracket is a long, complicated and tedious process, with so many supporting documents required. And sometimes it can happen that you are put in the wrong bracket.  It makes you ask, as I used to ask, why should I be the one to worry about these things wh...