Start believing the Azkals are good

I rushed to my favourite coffee shop Museo Cafe down Tionko Street at half past nine in the evening Thursday hoping to catch the remaining minutes of the Philippines-Indonesia semifinal match on live video streaming.

My television at home got busted recently. Trouble is, the China-made boob tube does not have spare parts available in the city.

When I finally got to the official website, the match was over and the score read 0-1 for the Indons.

I heaved a sigh. Not bad. Eight years ago, the scoreboard read 13-1 for the Indonesians. Thursday night, it was as slim as it can get. And it was not too pretty a win for the Indons in front of their President and 70,000 red-shirted fans.

I watched the game highlights and that goal by Christian Gonzales was nothing short of spectacular. That lone goal came after Azkals keeper Neil Etheridge and Ray Johnsson banged each other in a defensive mix-up. Coach Alfred Riedl couldn’t hide his relief after the close win and paid tribute to the defence of the Azkals.

Riedl was kind of saying after the win that this is why the Philippines is in the last four. "Today, we saw why the Philippines are in semi-finals. They are a very strong team but I think that we deserved the win because we were the more active team,” Riedl said in the Suzuki Cup’s official website.

But a win is a win and the Indonesians will savor the victory going into Sunday’s final match of the tie.

Minutes after the match, the official Facebook page of the Azkals were flooded with comments from their hordes of fans. Most of the fans thought they put up a tough stand but needed to communicate better. Some thought they had better be on the attacking mode if we have to win the next match.

Coach Simon McMenemy surely had his strategy well cut out for the Azkals and it worked. The goal came by an error and things like that happen. Don’t cry for Neil Etheridge. I believe he will live to fight another day and forget about the miscue. You can’t blame him and Johnsson either. Playing before 70,000 fans, they can hardly hear each other.

What have we gained from the match?

First, we have come to play at this level. The boisterous home crowd was something they haven’t experienced before. I don’t even think we can gather that much crowd unless it is Edsa People Power again or a Cory Funeral.

We have proven to all that we can play this global game. Football is but a sport waiting for a spark. Everyone loves this game surprisingly in a country where most are crazy with basketball. And yes, contrary to the interpellation of Senator Jinggoy Estrada last Monday in the Senate, football is not a tall man’s game. The Senator should be told that even Spain, the World Cup champions, are not a tall team.

On Sunday, expect the Azkals to come out with smoke in their noses.

Theodore Roosevelt couldn’t have said it more aptly when he said: “If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

It's not the critic that counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or whether the doer of deeds could have done them better...The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust, and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and often comes up short again and again. Who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause. And who, if at best in the end, knows the triumph of higher treatment and high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly so that his soul shall never be with those cold and timid ones, who know neither victory nor defeat.”

The battle is not over.

Finally, let me borrow it from Karen Carpenter.

“We’ve only just begun.”