By: Celest R. Flores
MANILA---National team manager Dan Palami is optimistic that the ongoing PFF Suzuki Cup Under-23 national championship will discover untapped talents for theSoutheast Asian Games.
“The lack of available talent locally is one of the problems we’re trying to address,” said Palami. “Competition such as this will allow players to really have a goal.”
With the popularity of the sport reaching an all-time high in the wake of the unprecedented performance of the national squad known as the Azkals, the support and interest for football—even on the grassroots level—also leapfrogged.
“It starts with interest. If they know something is happening, they will get interested in the game,” added Palami in a press conference during the Southern Luzon clusters kickoff at the University of the Philippines Los Banos last March 30.
The composition of the SEA Games’ under-23 squad will be selected from the winners of the PFF Suzuki Cup, but PFF president Mariano “Nonong”Araneta said that a number of Filipino-foreigners and foreign-based Filipinos have expressed interest in joining the squad.
Article Source: http://www.inquirer.net/sports/articles/PFF-Suzuki-Cup-U-23-stars-to-form-core-of-SEAG-team.html
With the rising popularity of football here in the country, I just hope that the country will win a medal in this year's SEA Games. Whatever the color of the medal is, it will be a great celebration if we win a medal in football. It that will happen, this will be the first time that the country won a medal in SEA Games football.
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