Football Gameday live! PHL vs CBD

I don’t quite understand the rigors of football, except that they have to score a goal against their opponent. Hehe. BUT… that did not stop us from watching last Sunday’s match between the Philippine Azkals and the Cambodian Angkor Warriors! They’re battling it out for a chance to qualify for the AFC Challenge Cup in Maldives next year.

Players warming up.

We bought the 100-worth tickets to the match. Ate Anna and I were both with our brothers, RJ and Ephra. Kuya Third and his son, Andre, also watched the match. Because they’re more avid fans than us, they bought the 500-worth tickets. No worries though. We still had the same view as we’re both on the bleachers side, the only advantage was that their seats are right in the middle while we’re a little bit on the sidelines.

We’re quite excited mainly because it was our first time to watch a live football game. RJ’s watching for the second time, the first being PHL’s match against Singapore. We lost that game. Kuya Third said Schrock wasn’t there to set their plays better, hence our loss. To better understand, he’s like your point guard (i.e. basketball).

At exactly 7.30PM, the match started. Time for some action! After several attempts from Angel Guirado and the rest of the team to get the ball in, star player Phil Younghusband manages to get a goal by the 25^th minute. Hurrah! We suddenly saw ourselves cheering with the crowd! Go Pilipinas!

National Anthem. We get to hold the Philippine flag.

Five more minutes and Phil gets another one. Another one by the time the clock ticked for the 34^th minute. How awesome can he get? Brother said, he’s like saying “I love you” to Angel Locsin. He was kinda devastated that the Scot got more pogi points to charm his celebrity crush. Haha! I laughed and said that if a fourth consecutive goal from Phil gets in, that’s Angel saying “I love you, too!” HAHAHA!

The fourth goal came during the 44^th minute. From rookie Javier Patino. :))) The 46^th minute goal came from Stephen Schrock. I was just amazed by how this guy manages to handle the ball with his feet plus the plays he creates! Wow.

Patino pitched another one by the 55^th minute. 84^th minute and Phil manages another one. By the 88^th minute, another Azkal goalie comes in courtesy of Carli de Murga. The game ended with Azkals totally dominating the game 8-nil against the Cambodians.

The lights suddenly go out. Power Fail.

During the match, I observed that the Azkals were playing quite aggressively, compared with the Angkor Warriors who were pressed to be more on the defense. According to stats I saw from sports news the next day, Cambodia attempted five shots to the goal, quite feeble compared to the 24 registered by the Azkals. Also, despite the power interruption (people on Twitter thought Beyonce would come out and perform on the football field ala NFL) and the HEAVY downpour, the Pinoy players managed to display a very good game.

Tonight, we’re up against a more “formidable foe”—Turkmenistan, who also crushed the Cambodians 7-nil last Friday afternoon. Brunei bowed out of the competition early on, giving each team an extra 3 points. With 8 goals last Sunday, we’re currently first place in our category totaling for 11 against the Turkmens’ 10. Azkals would need to at least pull a draw against their opponents tonight to secure a place in Maldives next year. :D *fingers crossed for their win*

Brother!

4-nil by halftime.

Kebs na sa ulan! Hahaha! GO PILIPINAS!

PS: Ok, so you may have read my post last time partly agreeing with Arnold Clavio’s comments against the Azkals’ unseeming behavior against a woman. No, I’m not retracting my points from that previous blogpost because I still believe that men—whatever color their skins maybe—should know how to respect women. Mr Clavio may have sounded he’s envying these good looking men, but I think he made an incisive and insightful point on that issue. Anyhoo, I’m supporting these guys’ game tonight. :)

Game got halted for 30 minutes because of the HEAVY RAIN! We never got to finish the match because we're totally soaked. Finished the game at home. In front of the TV.