The Philippines is not Europe

In one of the comments regarding the achievements of the Philippines U16 girls in the recent AFF Girls 16 championships, one Facebook user pointed out that age-old argument regarding how we can advance if we adopt the European practice of having so many games in so many fields in so many days.

I had to pick out my eyes after rolling them out.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It used to be that I’d politely join the conversation whenever someone Euro-centric points out something like that but it gets tiring; especially since they can’t seem to see that in Europe, the Philippines is about five to six time zones away.

Look, the Philippines will never be Europe, nor will it ever adopt Europe’s attitude towards football. Heck, we are so US-centered that I remember in one Azkal match, the fans were chanting “DEFENSE, DE-FENSE,” at one point.

Instead of wishing for more fields and open spaces, just like in Europe, I am more impressed with folks who work with and around the PHL setup by utilizing basketball courts as futsal courts to spread the game and to get more people to take up the sport. You can wish all you want for a European set-up, but it will never happen in this lifetime or the next.

So, how can we sustain the U15 girls’ momentum and keep the team competitive without transplanting them to Europe? (Because that’s the only way you can give them a European-type of support.)

This was the number one question raised when we saw that finals game against Thailand and saw how, at times, it showed that a little more jelling would have helped the girls. There’s a difference with playing with great players you’ve known in two months and playing with average players you’ve known for years. Sometimes, instict just tells whether they’ll be open or what they’ll do at a certain situation.

Not that I’m questioning how the girls jell with each other; it’s a question on how to sustain that edge. Remember, some of the girls are based in the US, and of those based in in the Philippines, not all are in one location as some are from other parts of the country. A decade ago, the PFF solution to that problem was to uproot members of the youth team and move them to one location-- at the national youth training center in Barotac Nuevo. That also meant having the youngsters transfer schools and all.

Of course, it didn’t work. Heck, I don’t think that experiment even lasted a year as some of the teens decided to go home.

Even an annual “summer camp” for the girls is problematic because the PHL and US summer breaks don’t coincide. How will the PFF keep their edge? How to maintain that edge that gave them the silver medal in the 15-Under age group while the rest of the Southeast Asian teams train as a whole the whole year round?

The PFF will have to look for the answer as the girls will return again next year, this time for the U16 championships.