A few days ago, the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) announced that the Philippine Women’s National Football Team will be holding a nine-day training camp next month. The highlight of which will be an intra-squad exhibition game at the Mall of Asia Football Field on February 29.
On certain days, this news will be a much welcome update on the Filipinas. But fans, at least more than a few, were upset instead of being happy that the Filipinas will be coming home next week. After all, the PFF initially announced that there will be a training and ID camp in the United States and a few friendlies for the team which has not seen action for several months now. The Filipinas were practically idle for some time now. And naturally, the fans are getting worried and bothered that Filipinas are nowhere to be found and silent, collectively at least.
Freddy Gonzalez, Director of National Senior Teams of the PFF and the concurrent Team Manager of the Filipinas as well, is in the United States right now trying to make some sense in the aborted training and ID camp for the Filipinas. In a chat late morning yesterday, he gave The Designated Kit Man the real reasons for the sudden switch of schedules for the Filipinas, as well as several good news.
The reasons first.
“The US camp didn’t make sense at this point. Logistics were difficult because of what happened in Southern California. We couldn’t do it there and anywhere else would have driven the costs through the roof. 75% of the staff wouldn’t be there because they have no visas,” Gonzalez said.
In case you lived under a rock for the past several weeks or months, wildfires have ravaged key areas in California, so this reason makes sense. And bringing an entire team abroad would entail a lot of funding, which is now a challenge for the Filipinas coaching staff and the PFF as well, since former team manager and patron Jeff Cheng decided to leave the team and instead focus his attention in helping several women’s teams, including some teams too in the Philippines Football League, in the local domestic scene.
“The people we were working with in Southern California couldn’t commit because of the fires. In Northern California naman, the logistics were just a nightmare, ” Gonzalez explained.
Gonzalez added that fixtures against CONCACAF teams, which were supposed to play friendlies against the Filipinas, have also been cancelled.
“Teams often cancel in the women’s game because they don’t have the same budget as their male counterparts, which can be frustrating,” Gonzalez explained.
The team has another option. Gonzalez said they were invited to play in a tournament in Turkey. Unfortunately, India cancelled at the last minute and instead chose to play in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
“Hong Kong didn’t want to just play us so they cancelled, too.” Gonzalez added. He also revealed that there was an option to play against club teams and possibly Puerto Rico, but then again the options were no longer feasible so the coaching staff decided to do a camp in Manila instead.
Now the other news.
“Maz (Mayumi) Pacheco is now out of the team because she hurt her calf yesterday (Wednesday in Manila). Same with Nina Mathelus,” Gonzalez confirmed.
Pacheco is, of course, one of the most awaited players that the PFF has been trying to come and play for the Filipinas. She is also a professional footballer, a defender, who plays for Aston Villa in the Women’s Super League in the United Kingdom.
The good news.
Despite being injured, Pacheco and Mathelus will be in the lineup for sure. A lot of new players will be coming in and the list of new players that need help in fast-tracking their documents and papers, have already been forwarded to the appropriate Senate committees.
“Josef Baccay is already getting his passport. Andre Leipold, Cole Mrowka and Randy Schneider are all just processing certain documents but should get their passports before the AFC deadline. The rest were all submitted to the Senate because they will help with the naturalization for both men’s and women’s national teams,” Gonzalez revealed.
He also added that an ID camp in the United States for the Men’s National Football Team and the Filipinas will be held in April.
Speaking of the Manila camp, Gonzales confirmed the arrival of another high-profile player that will be most welcome in donning the national colors.
“Emma Tovar will be in Manila,” Gonzalez said. Tovar is the 21-year-old defender of Liga F club Valencia in Spain.
Gonzalez is hopeful that the fans will continue to support the Filipinas as they kickstart the new year with the Manila camp. Things may not be ideal, but the team needs to be back on the saddle despite the many challenges. They have to start soon rather than later. And they have to start somewhere and Manila is the best place to do it, given the circumstances. I don’t need to spell out everything but I feel the pressure and the need, especially on Gonzalez, to get the Filipinas back on track.
“The camp in Manila should be good for the team. It will give the coaching staff the opportunity to implement the new style of play to the rest of the squad and the new players for the big mid-year games,” Gonzalez added.
Again, patience is virtue. Let’s wait and see if Gonzalez’s plans will come to fruition. And I don’t doubt his capability and intention of pulling things out of thin air just to make our national teams competitive and strong despite the odds and concerns.
For the meantime, kalma lang muna.
Stay safe. Stay happy peeps!
For comments or questions, you can reach The Designated Kit Man at erel_cabatbat@yahoo.com or follow his account at Twitter: @erelcabatbat