Atty. Joey D. Lina
Former Senator By Atty. Joey D. Lina Former Senator   In the world of sports, football (soccer) is indisputably the most watched and the most loved, with an international audience numbering 3.5 billion fans, or one of every two people on the planet. And being the most dominant sport in almost every country in the world, it’s a pity that most Filipinos in this basketball-crazed country of ours aren’t yet crazy about football as well. But that could change as the Azkals, the Philippines’ men’s football team, made history last Tuesday when it beat Tajikistan, 2-1, to secure a first-ever berth in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup. I was there at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium with many other proud Filipinos cheering our hearts out for the Philippine team in its historic win that clinched its place among the top 24 football teams in the entire Asia. A historic night it was indeed as the heroic Phil Younghusband, Azkals’ team captain, delivered the winning goal that earned him a spot in an elite group of players to score 50 goals. It wasn’t smooth sailing, however, all throughout the journey towards the historic win. As the game came to life after a scoreless first half, Azkals’ Kevin Ingreso gave away a penalty on a poor tackle that led to Tajikistan’s Nazarov Akhtam making the penalty shot past goalkeeper Neil Etheridge to put the opponent team ahead, 1-0. But 10 minutes later, Ingreso made up for his earlier blunder as he scored a goal off an Iain Ramsay assist from the left wing in the 73rd minute to tie the score at one goal apiece. From thereon, Younghusband’s wizardry shone on the way to the winning goal off a penalty kick in the 90th minute. It was a dazzling display of perseverance and tenacity, indeed, a triumph of the Filipino spirit as the chips were down. “Even when we’re down, we can bounce back and I think we showed and typified it today,” Younghusband said after the game. Azkals head coach Thomas Dooley also beamed with pride over what he described as “the biggest success in the history of Philippine football” so far. “Those guys that I’ve called, those are the new heroes, the new stars that we should focus on,” he said. The nail-biting victory that puts our country among Asia’s best in football can be very inspiring to young Filipinos eager to excel in a sport that has a vast potential for our country in terms of the impact from 3.5 billion football fans all over the world. The Azkals’ victory can indeed inspire the Philippine Football Federation, the country’s governing body on football where I sit as a member of its Board of Governors, to intensify efforts toward development of the sport here and to promote more public awareness of football in the Philippines. Young football enthusiasts from all over the country, particularly in the grassroots level, could be tapped to expand the base of Filipino players and raise the level of the sport here as the Philippines moves on towards being the “football capital” in Southeast Asia. The extensive development of football starting from the grassroots is crucial indeed and this has formed part of the main objectives of the Laguna Football Association in which I was elected in 2013. It is imperative that short-term, medium-term, and long-term programs for training and nurturing our young football enthusiasts be sustained to enable our country to soar to new heights in football. The potential of Filipinos to make it big like the leading Brazilians in the world’s most dominant sport isn’t farfetched, especially if we recall that over a hundred years ago, the 15-year-old boy who scored three goals in his first appearance for Futbol Club Barcelona (FC Barcelona) was Filipino. Paulino Alcantara, who was born in Iloilo City to a Spanish father and a Filipino mother, accomplished his unforgettable feat on February 25, 1912, and went on to score 369 goals in 357 appearances with FC Barcelona, one of the world’s most celebrated football clubs. In 1922, Alcantara made another unforgettable shot that “actually managed to pierce the net” in a game against France. “For many years after, children from Barcelona would recall that moment and would wish to do the same as the man from the Philippines,” read FC Barcelona’s website. Regarded as one of the most legendary figures in football history, Alcantara is described in the website as an “extraordinarily skinny-looking player on the outside… built like a train within, and his ability to strike the ball hard astounded everyone that ever saw him play.” Alcantara remains unforgotten since his death in 1964. He was named in 2007 by the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) as the “best Asian player of all time” and is considered by FC Barcelona as “symbol or hero of the Philippines’ footballing past.” With Filipinos like the legendary Alcantara, there’s no doubt that other Filipinos have it in them to be football greats, too.   Email: [email protected]