FINDING ANSWERS
Last Sunday was quite memorable for two first-ever wins that reverberated across the world of sports.
One was the awesome feat of the Philippine women’s football team to finally secure a spot for our country in the highly prestigious FIFA World Cup. The other was the impressive triumph of tennis superstar Rafael Nadal to clinch a record-breaking 21st Grand Slam title.
It was a terrific comeback for Nadal, the Spanish legend who roared back to life at the Australian Open finals after being down two sets in a grueling duel lasting more than five hours with Russian Daniil Medvedev.
Though at 35 he is the third oldest man in the Open Era (since 1970) to win a Grand Slam, Nadal had become the first man ever to win 21 Grand Slam singles titles. He achieved the feat despite all the struggles he faced. He was on the verge of quitting tennis last August due to a chronic disease in his left foot. After a painful recovery, he then caught COVID last December which he said made him very sick.
Thus, for one who thought he might never play tennis again, his victory is certainly a triumph of the human spirit. And lesser mortals could have given up after being down in the first two sets. But not Nadal who snatched victory from what seemed to be the jaws of defeat as he survived the epic match 2-6 6-7 6-4 6-4 7-5.
“I just wanted to keep believing until the end to give me a chance and that’s what I did... I kept fighting, to try and find a solution,” Nadal said. “It means a lot to me and I know it’s a special number 21 and I know what it means, its significance.”
Sunday’s triumph of the Philippine women’s football team that beat Chinese Taipei on penalties, 4-3, at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune, India is also highly significant because, for the first time ever, our country has secured a berth in the World Cup, set in Australia and New Zealand in 2023.
Coach Allen Stajcic said the exceptional performance of the Philippine team, which earlier beat Indonesia, 6-0, and Thailand, 1-0, ought to inspire young Filipinos.
“Hopefully we can give the Philippines and all the players back home – young boys and young girls – some inspiration and hope that they can play at FIFA World Cups in the future,” Stajcic said. “The players in the squad want to change the game back home. They want to be inspirational to the next generation and they’ve spoken about that often.”
I certainly hope the triumph of our football team would inspire our young towards football. 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 in the planet.
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 our football team continues soaring to great heights.
Their triumph can also 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 to head 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 historic win of the Philippine women’s football team can certainly go a long way in inspiring young Filipinos.
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