By this time, you would have already read countless tweets and articles and Facebook status updates on the Azkals’ 1-5 loss to Kuwait. This article is not meant to chronicle their last World Cup qualifier. Since the team needed five more goals to have won this series, here’s five reasons to be proud – or at least amused – that you are an Azkals supporter.
Soaked and stuck in traffic? No problem.
Regardless of long ticket lines, jam-packed parking lots, non-stop rains and bumper-to-bumper traffic, thousands of fans still came out to support the Philippine team.
The game was supposed to kick off at 7pm. But as early as 5pm, fastfood chains all around Rizal Stadium were already filled with Azkal fans. And these aren’t usual fans. They were all wearing Azkal shirts; some even went as far as painting their faces and wearing wigs (yes, it didn’t matter if the paint dripped off their faces because of the rain).
With fellow supporters as die-hard as these, who wouldn’t be inspired to cheer along despite the weather?
Celebrities
This is the “maybe not proud, but maybe amusing" part – the celebrities who showed up in the historic football game.
While we expected the presence of Angel Locsin (the first to be named to the unofficial “WAGS" list by the fans), a handful of other celebrities came out to support the Philippine team.
Angel came with fellow actress Dimples Romana. Gab Valenciano and Andrew Wolff among others also watched the Azkals.
Celebrity couple Valerie Concepcion and Dondon Hontiveros, although both present in the grandstand, didn’t arrive nor did they leave at the same time.
But perhaps the biggest celebrity out there that night was Mister Philippine Showbiz himself, Piolo Pascual. He was very low-key the entire match, maybe because he wanted to be the spectator rather than the spectacle during those two hours.
Coach Weiss and the players get fired up
It’s normal in any sporting event that players, coaches and sometimes fans lose their tempers. But when you have Rob Gier pushing an opponent over a foul contention, then that shows how much the Azkals wanted to win this game.
Even the ever meek James Younghusband was going at the referee for not making calls against Kuwait. Yellow cards were slapped on both Stephan Schrock and Anton Del Rosario. A Kuwaiti player was even sent off with a red card after tripping Chieffy Caligdong and complaining about the call.
At various points of the match, you would also see Coach Michael Weiss shaking his head or shrugging his arms because he knew how much was at stake. Despite criticisms, Coach Weiss believes that he used his players and system in the best way possible. It just wasn’t their lucky night.
Schrocky’s goal
If there was one guy who had it good during the game, it would undoubtedly be Stephan Schrock who just came from a one-game suspension.
With two minutes added to the first half, Schrock scored a last-minute goal at the 47th mark. Receiving a pass from Caligdong, he went on to make the Azkals’ lone goal in this series.
The Fil-German did a fist bump as they finally got a much-needed offensive attack. And what did he get from that goal? Cheers from the fans and kisses from his teammates.
Never say die attitude
With the game about to start, it was a bit worrisome that the bleachers were only half-filled. Probably due to rains, viewers were still coming in after the halftime break.
While these latecomers missed about 75% of their tickets’ value when they missed Schrock’s goal, it was an exhilarating experience seeing everyone in high spirits despite the impending loss.
As the game was about to close – and the Philippines obviously bowing down to Kuwait – the crowd continued to chant “Azkals" and “Pilipinas" to their hearts’ content.
Just like what Coach Weiss said before, “We're gonna lose a few games once we go up higher level competition, but I hope the fans will still support us."
Soaked and stuck in traffic? No problem.
Regardless of long ticket lines, jam-packed parking lots, non-stop rains and bumper-to-bumper traffic, thousands of fans still came out to support the Philippine team.
The game was supposed to kick off at 7pm. But as early as 5pm, fastfood chains all around Rizal Stadium were already filled with Azkal fans. And these aren’t usual fans. They were all wearing Azkal shirts; some even went as far as painting their faces and wearing wigs (yes, it didn’t matter if the paint dripped off their faces because of the rain).
With fellow supporters as die-hard as these, who wouldn’t be inspired to cheer along despite the weather?
Celebrities
This is the “maybe not proud, but maybe amusing" part – the celebrities who showed up in the historic football game.
While we expected the presence of Angel Locsin (the first to be named to the unofficial “WAGS" list by the fans), a handful of other celebrities came out to support the Philippine team.
Angel came with fellow actress Dimples Romana. Gab Valenciano and Andrew Wolff among others also watched the Azkals.
Celebrity couple Valerie Concepcion and Dondon Hontiveros, although both present in the grandstand, didn’t arrive nor did they leave at the same time.
But perhaps the biggest celebrity out there that night was Mister Philippine Showbiz himself, Piolo Pascual. He was very low-key the entire match, maybe because he wanted to be the spectator rather than the spectacle during those two hours.
Coach Weiss and the players get fired up
Even the ever meek James Younghusband was going at the referee for not making calls against Kuwait. Yellow cards were slapped on both Stephan Schrock and Anton Del Rosario. A Kuwaiti player was even sent off with a red card after tripping Chieffy Caligdong and complaining about the call.
At various points of the match, you would also see Coach Michael Weiss shaking his head or shrugging his arms because he knew how much was at stake. Despite criticisms, Coach Weiss believes that he used his players and system in the best way possible. It just wasn’t their lucky night.
Schrocky’s goal
If there was one guy who had it good during the game, it would undoubtedly be Stephan Schrock who just came from a one-game suspension.
With two minutes added to the first half, Schrock scored a last-minute goal at the 47th mark. Receiving a pass from Caligdong, he went on to make the Azkals’ lone goal in this series.
The Fil-German did a fist bump as they finally got a much-needed offensive attack. And what did he get from that goal? Cheers from the fans and kisses from his teammates.
Never say die attitude
With the game about to start, it was a bit worrisome that the bleachers were only half-filled. Probably due to rains, viewers were still coming in after the halftime break.
While these latecomers missed about 75% of their tickets’ value when they missed Schrock’s goal, it was an exhilarating experience seeing everyone in high spirits despite the impending loss.
As the game was about to close – and the Philippines obviously bowing down to Kuwait – the crowd continued to chant “Azkals" and “Pilipinas" to their hearts’ content.
Just like what Coach Weiss said before, “We're gonna lose a few games once we go up higher level competition, but I hope the fans will still support us."
