Courtesy: ABS-CBN News

RP in futsal title round

Here’s good news for football fans. The Philippines barged into the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) futsal championship round in Japan this May after posting a 2-1 record in the Chinese-Taipei qualifiers recently.

Philippine Football Federation (PFF) president Johnny Romualdez said the other day making it to the AFC five-a-side tournament proper was a marked achievement for the national squad bolstered by veterans Ariel Zerrudo, Ali Go and Emilio Caligdong.

Head coach Esmaeil Sedigh, a long-time Manila resident from Iran, surprised oddsmakers by piloting the underdog Philippine team to a 4-2 win over host Taiwan and a 5-2 decision over Maldives. Lebanon handed the nationals an 8-2 setback.

Zerrudo, 25, was the Philippines ’ top scorer with four goals against Taiwan and three against Maldives. Other Filipino scorers were Go (one), Peyman Nejadsafavi (two) and Jaime Ocampo (one).

In futsal, five players are on the court at any given time and up to seven substitutes are allowed.

Senior team mainstays Zerrudo and Go were the only players to start in all three matches. Zerrudo is from Claret while Go is from La Salle Bacolod. Other starters were Nejadsafavi, Romeo Paranpan, Ocampo, Caligdong, Paul Joseph Espinosa, Elvin Marcellana and Sasan Maherolnaghsh. The roster also included Nestorio Margarse, Bienvenido Quiambao, Xarex Velasquez, Philip Caballero and Misagh Bahadoran. Head of delegation was Joaquin Preysler with Mansour Maherolnaghsh as team manager.

It was one of nine international tournaments the PFF has set in a busy calendar for the national team in the futsal, under-21, under-13, women’s, under-16, under-23 and seniors categories for the AFC and AFF (Asean Football Federation) this year.

The culmination is the Southeast Asian Games in Bangkok in December.

"We’re looking forward to a memorable celebration of our centennial anniversary this year," said Romualdez. "The National Open is ongoing with 32 teams in eight groups competing all over the country. Late this month, the Ang Liga Pilipina women’s finals will be held at the PhilSports Arena. Then, we’ve got our international commitments to attend to."

A milestone event in the schedule is the 45-nation AFC men’s under-16 tournament on Oct. 17-28. The Philippines is bracketed in Group E with China , Singapore, Guam, Mongolia and Macau. Australia will compete as an AFC member country for the first time. Another major tournament is the 11-nation AFF under-23 meet in November in East Kalimuntan with the Philippines joining Malaysia, Laos, Myanmar, Brunei and Thailand in Group A.

In June, the PFF will stage the third Football Awards Night with legendary German star Franz Beckenbauer, chairman of the Bayern Munich supervisory board and World Cup 2006 organizer, invited as guest.

And in December, the PFF will inaugurate its three-story building, called "House of Football," on Danny Floro corner Javier streets, a few hundred meters from the PhilSports Arena in Pasig, with FIFA president Joseph Blatter of Switzerland and AFC president Mohamed bin Hammam of Qatar confirmed to attend.

Construction of the building on a 400-square meter property will begin in May. Last month, FIFA project director for Asia Windsor John flew in to inspect the building site and gave his thumbs-up after conferring with Romualdez, PFF secretary-general Pabs Araneta and architect Red Avelino. FIFA has provided the PFF a budget of $400,000 for the building.



Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com