BACOLOD City – The theme song of the reality series Pinoy Big Brother has always been a hit during lulls in the football game, but now it seems apt.

Oliver Colina, who trained with the team since April before getting cut two days before the competition, said that they felt like they were on the hit shows.

“Mura pud mig Pinoy Big Brother, except that we have cell phones,” said the 23-year-old alumni of the University of San Jose-Recoletos during an impromptu party at the Draft bar after the team lost, 4-2, to Myanmar.

Colina explained that they just played card to pass the time since they were not allowed to watch TV, when they trained at the Ultra.

“Lights out is also at 10 p.m. and if you violate that you’d be fined,” Colina said.

In the Thailand pre-Southeast Asian Games tournament, Colina said that he was fined $4 for violating the lights out time.

“It’s ok because the fines are used to buy pasalubongs for the people who cook for us at Ultra,” Colina said.

Colina said that for the Seag, winger Arnie Pasenabo got the most fines at $25.

BACOLOD City – For 15 minutes, every fan at the packed Panaad Park and Stadium was on a high, with the Philippines leading Malaysia 2-1, the semifinal in the 23rd Southeast Asian Games (Seag) seemed with in reach.

However, there was no story book ending for the under-dogs, nor a reappearance of the Ghost 0f ‘91. Malaysia, with more experience and getting some of the calls their way, came back for a 4-2 win.

The loss dropped the Philippines to third place and out of running for the final four spots.

“The level of officiating should improve,” coach Aries Caslib said. However, Caslib refused to blame the loss on bad calls, “That’s why football is a beautiful game, it’s really the referee’s call,”

For his part, fan favorite James Younghusband said, “This has been the worse officiating I’ve been on,”

The Azkals were down to 10 in the 23rd, after referee Norizan Bin Bakar booked Peter Jaugan for his second yellow for rushing towards a Malaysian freekick off a wall formation.

In the 24th Philipp’s goal was disallowed for a foul on the keeper.

The team’s spark plug, Emilio Caligdong, who normally comes in at the second half, relieved Filippo Braggio in the 20th, but a minute later, Malaysia scored.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who was in the grandstand during the start of the match, left after the goal.

Philipp, who plays for the Chelsea FC reserves in England, finally scored a goal in the 33 rd, after getting a cross from Chad Gould.

“It’s a great feeling scoring a goal, but it took longer because we already had two games,” said Philip.

Things evened out in the 44th minute after Bakar also sent Amir Shareen Bin Abd Mubin to an early shower after getting a second yellow and the stadium erupted three minutes into the second half after Philipp headed in his brother James free kick to put the Philippines on top, 2-1.

A penalty in the 60th allowed Malaysia to equalized and Rudie Bin Azmi headed in a corner for a 3-2 lead.

“We are not used to leading by a goal, we have to learn how to managed that kind of situation,” Caslib said.

Though Caslib said he was disappointed, he also said that he was very proud of his player’s performance.

“I was really looking forward to winning the first medal for football in this Seag,” he said.

BACOLOD City – The Philippines will take on Malaysia today, in its final match in Group A of the 23rd Southeast Asian Games (Seag) football at the Panaad Park and Stadium.

The Azkals will be hoping to score a repeat of the ‘91 Seag, when they qualified for its first semifinal round, and with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo expected to attend the game together with another 30,000 rabid fans expected, the team are expected to give it all.

Meanwhile, football fans in the rest of the country will have to pray hard that ABC will carry the game live, just as it did in the Philippines 4-2 win over Cambodia.

“We really don’t know if we will be on live, in volleyball, we only learned that we will be live in the last second,” one of the ABC crew said.

The Cambodia-RP game was aired live because sources say a group of fans paid P50,000 for it.

“It’s a sad thing, I learned that we were on live TV after a group of fans paid for it,” the Philippines team manager Vincent Santos said.

Meanwhile in yesterday’s games, Indonesia blanked Laos, 4-0, to finish second in its group.

BACOLOD City – The Thailand – Malaysia football match at the Panaad Park and Stadium was interrupted briefly after the lights went off, with only 18 minutes left in the second half.

Thailand, the defending champion, was leading the game 1-0 before it suddenly went dark.

“I have seen games in England and in Europe that the same happened, so it is just unfortunate,” said Australian coach Graeme Mackinnon who saw the match with Aries Caslib.

According to Mackinnon, a Japanese observer told him that had the lights not returned for more than 30 minutes, the game would have to be re-played today.

Fortunately, officials from the Central Negros Electric Cooperative managed to restore the power after a minute.

Though the power got back immediately, the game took some time to restart since the powerful lights in the stadium needs a few minutes before it can be at full glow.

After the restart, Malaysia managed to equalize before Thailand took the lead for good for a 2-1 win.

Thailand is now on top of Group A with six points, while Malaysia and the Philippines is at three points. Malaysia is second on goal difference.

Today, Group B wounds up its elimination matches with Singapore taking on Myanmar and Indonesia facing Laos. Indonesia is second with five points and Singapore third with four points.

BACOLOD City – The Philippine national football team is looking for help, and they are calling the “Ghost of 91″ to make an apparition as it try to qualify for the semifinal round for just the second time in the 23 rd Southeast Asian Games. (Seag).

The Azkals, have lost to Thailand, 0-1, and won over Cambodia, 4-2, for third place in their group. They will next face Malaysia on Nov. 29.

Fourteen years ago, the Philippine team defeated then defending champion Malaysia, 1-0, to qualify to its first semifinal in the Seag.

Coach Aries Caslib and team manager Vince Santos called it the “Ghost of ‘91″.

“We’d like to remind them what happened in ‘91,” Santos said during a gathering of football fans after the Philippines win over Cambodia last Friday.

Aside from the “Ghost”, the Philippines will also need a favor from Thailand, which takes on Malaysia today.

Malaysia currently leads the group on goal difference and if they lose by five goals against Thailand, it will drop them to a tie with the Philippines.

If Thailand scores more than five goals against Malaysia , the Philippines will only need a draw against Malaysia to qualify.

Meanwhile, Indonesia finally scored a goal for its first win, 1-0, against Vietnam yesterday. After two scoreless draws, Indonesia now holds the second spot with five points.

However, Laos will have a chance to get the second spot if it wins its match against Singapore, which was still going on at press time last night. Laos has three points and another win will have them at six points.

BACOLOD City – The word “win” is rarley used in a sentence together with the “Philippine national football team” – with the country having been “the whipping boys of Asia,”

After yesterday’s raucous 4-2 win over Cambodia in the 23 rd Southeast Asian Games (Seag) yesterday, national coach Aries Caslib had to contend with tough questions from the press.

“When was the last win by the Philippines in the Seag?” he was asked.

“I really don’t know,” he said. One said it was in the ‘91 Seag, when the team qualified to the semifinals for the first time, while another said it was in 1995.

A check in the Aseanfootball.com website showed that the Philippines, now christened the Azkals, defeated Brunei 1-0 for its last win.

Then Caslib got asked, “When was the last time the Philippines scored four goals in a game?”

He got stumped, “I’m not old enough to answer that question,” said the 36-year-old coach.

The euphoria over the win must have clouded Caslib’s memory, in the Pre-Seag tourney last September in Bangkok, Thailand, the Philippines , with Caslib coaching, defeated East Timor 4-1. Emilio Caligdong, who scored the fourth goal yesterday, also scored in that game, along with Jerome Orcullo, Peter Jaugan and Jose Ombos.

Meanwhile, Chelsea FC reserves Philip and James Younghusband has earned a following from the infatuated Bacoleñas, getting shrieks everytime he passes by the grandstand. Team caption Ali Borromeo was also mobbed by autograph seekers, who rushed to the press room after seeing him, while Caligdong’s signature suddenly become in demand.

A nice change in a country addicted to basketball.

“You have goosebumps everytime you touch the ball, the last time I felt like this it was in Malaysia , and they (crowd) were all Malaysians,” Borromeo said.

BACOLOD City — At last, a win.

Backed by a raucous and jampacked crowd at the Panaad Park and Stadium, the Philippines survived a gritty Cambodia, 4-2, for its first win in the 23rd Southeast Asian Games (Seag).

“It’s a great feeling, I’m still out of words, I want to congratulate all my teammates,” said the 6 foot 1 captain, Ali Borromeo, who scored one of the goals.

The win puts them at third place with three points, while Malaysia leads on goal difference, having defeated Cambodia, 5-0. Malaysia will face Thailand tomorrow and the Philippines on Nov. 29.

“If we want to win the first medal in football in the Seag, we will have to win the game against Malaysia ,” coach Aries Caslib said.

The Philippines, who had three scoring chances denied by the Thai keeper in its opening 0-1 loss to the defending champion, started well – with their passes and ball control improved.

James Younghusband brought the house down after receiving a nifty pass from Arnie Pasenabo and scoring from 30 yards out for a 1-0 lead. The celebration was short however, as five minutes later, Cambodia equalize off a corner.

“We really have to address our problems in our defense, we have a problem with those goals (opposite defense)” Caslib said.

Borromeo got a chance to put RP ahead in the 36th with a shot off a free kick, but referee Maniam Ganesan called him offside.

The 22-year-old team captain finally scored in the second half, after heading in Emilio Caligdong’s corner for a 2-1 lead.

However, Pok Chan Than cut short the celebration with a strike from outside the box to level the match again.

With the crowd egging them on, the Azkals refused to quit, and Borromeo connected with Philip Greatwitch in the 40th to the delight of the Fil-Brit’s mom, Carla, who run up and down the stairs shouting “That’s my son! That’s my son!”

“The players wanted to win badly so, we adjusted in the second half,” Caslib said.

Caligdong, who scored the two goals in RP’s first win against East Timor in the Tiger Cup last year, made sure Cambodia couldn’t catch up with a lovely chip in the 43rd minute for the 4-2 score – before running at the tracks to start off the rabid celebration.

After the final whistle, Caligdong and the rest of the team returned and grabbed a Philippine flag from the crowd.

“It’s unbelievable out there, the crowd is very supportive, you get goose bumps every time you touch the ball,” Borromeo said.

BACOLOD City – Thailand’s goalkeeper Kosin Hathairattanakool had two brilliant stops for his team’s 1-0 win over a determined Philippine team yesterday in the 23rd Southeast Asian Games football event at the packed Panaad Park and Stadium.

Though Thailand won the match, it wasn’t the same as past encounters with the Thais winning by blowouts as the Philippines, which had Chelsea reserves Philipp and James Younghusbands up front held their own against the title holders.

The Philippines took the initiative early, with Andy Prochnov header just inches high.

However, the Thais showed their superiority as they kept the Philippines in the defensive in the next 20 minutes before a lapse in the RP back line left Jakkrit Bunkham open for a booming shot just outside the box in the 36th that got past Michael Casas.

“It was poor concentration on our opposite defense, we have to improve that,” RP coach Aries Caslib said.

Backed by a jampacked sea of blue shirts, the boys took the initiative in the second half and Ali Borromeo’s header off a corner in the 47th seemed headed to a goal before it got cleared by a defender.

Another header by Borromeo in the 79th forced a diving save from Hathairanttanol just as it was to cross the bottom corner and in the next corner, Philip’s shot was again saved by the Thai keeper.

“Clearly, I am not satisfied because we lost, but we were just very unlucky,” Caslib said.

However, Thailand coach Chanvit Phalajivin praised the home boys. “The Philippines played very, very well today. They pressured (us) on the high ball and during corners.”

With the loss, the Philippines will have to win its next two matches against Cambodia on Friday and Malaysia on Nov. 29 to qualify for the semifinals.

“We still have a chance to qualify (for the semifinals), our target is to finish second in the group,” Caslib said.

Today, Indonesia, which drew Myanmar. 0-0, last Monday, faces Singapore in the first game while Myanmar takes on Vietnam in the second at the Paglaum Sports Complex.

(photo by Ruel Rosello)

BACOLOD City – In one of the most bizarre game in the 23 rd Southeast Asian Games, Vietnam moved to the top of Group B after an 8-2 win over Laos yesterday at the Paglaum Sports Complex – with three own goals scored in the first half.

In the second game, Myanmar fought Indonesia to a scoreless draw.

Four minutes in, Vietnam’s Le Cong Ving struck first and Phan Van Nguyen made it 2-0 in the 9 th before the match took a weird turn in the 15th minute.

Kila Sysavah deflected the ball into his own net to give Vietnam a 3-0 lead and another defensive miscue resulted into another own goal in the 18th for a 4-0 count.

Vietnam got into the act after Le Van Troung headed the ball past his own keeper to make it 4-1 in the 20 th.

“I have never seen anything like this in my whole life, three own goals in the first half?” said Vietnam coach, Aflred Reidl in the post match press conference.

Ving scored again in the 39th and 49th minute for a 6-2 lead and added another in the second half to finish with four goals.

“He’s our best striker in the team,” Reidl said of Ving, who has earned a strong following from the ladies here, eliciting shrieks whenever he touches the ball.

Reidl added that he didn’t expect to win by that much against Laos , considering Laos upset over Myanmar in its first game, but he also said “we could still play better.”

Vietnam is on top of its group with two wins and only needs another win to bag a semifinal spot. They will next face Myanmar tomorrow and Indonesia on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the Philippine national team, christened the Askals by the fans, is set to debut today against Thailand in the lone match at the Panaad Park and Stadium at 4:40 p.m.

Sources close to the team says that the 6-foot tall Ali Borromeo, who played striker in the 2004 Tiger Cup, will play defense to check the taller Thailand strikers.

Chelsea reserve players and brothers Philipp and James Younghusband are expected to carry the offensive duties of the team, which will also have former Carmen National School mainstay Michael Casas at goal.
(foto by Ruel Rosello)

THE ABOITIZ Men’s League Division A is turning out to be a boring affair after another set of blowouts yesterday at the San Roque Parish football grounds

Hiroshi FC, the Aboitiz Cup winner last year, toyed with Magone FC, 15-1, while Crazy Horse blanked Danao FC, 12-0.

The last game managed to have some semblance of a competition as Rugmo Debra fought Don Bosco Alumni FC to a 1-1 draw, while in the lone Division-B game, San Roque FC defeated Queen City United, 3-0.

“Way ayo ang mga duwa karon sa Aboitiz (There aren’t any good games in this Aboitiz Cup),” Hiroshi assistant coach Francis Ramirez said.

Martin Bontia scored the opener in the ninth minute and things got worse for Magone as Junard Aguilar scored four times, while Harold Buot had a hat trick and captain Voltaire Montebon scored twice.

On the other hand, former national team mainstay Joshua Fegidero scored five times in Crazy Horse’s rout over Danao.

Six minutes in, Fegidero struck, and a minute later, Excildo Dosdos added another before Jan Michael Abellana made it 3-0 in the 11th to put the outcome of the match beyond doubt.

Meanwhile, SRFC defeated Division-B leader Queen City with Marlon Rey Baring scoring in the fifth minute for an early lead. Eleazer Toledo added another in the 39th while Genard Aller made it 3-0 in the 73rd.