By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – The legacy of the Philippine Azkals continues after the team’s impressive showing in the Asia 7s Championship that concluded over the weekend here.
Pitted against Japan, one of the most experienced teams in this 7-a-side football tournament, the Azkals showed their relentless spirit before yielding 2-1 in the finals held at the EV Arena Elmina.
The Japanese quickly flexed their might with an early goal from Miran Kabe in the third minute, but had a hard time following it up as the Azkals fought back with their tight defending before veteran Stephan Schrock scored an equalizer in the 39th minute.
However, Kabe returned in the crucial period with another goal to give the Japanese the crown.
Despite the loss, the “puso” mentality of the Azkals was evident in the match as far as senior player Misagh Bahadoran was concerned.
“We gave Japan a hard time because we put 100 percent of our heart in the game — the same kind of attitude that the Azkals were famous at,” said Bahadoran, referring to the national men’s football team that carried the same moniker in the 11-a-side and popularized the sport in the country in the 2000s.
Unlike Japan, which has a regular 7-a-side league and a large pool of players, the Azkals were freshly assembled for this tournament. While the Japanese reportedly went on a two-month training camp, the Azkals only played as a team for the first time in this event.
Bahadoran hopes the Azkals’ strong showing in this tournament would create more awareness in this football variation, seeing how the team fought and surprised the seven other squads that competed in this tournament. Before bowing to Japan, the Filipino booters swept the group stage with victories over Hong Kong, Malaysia and India, then toppled Vietnam and Hong Kong anew in the quarterfinals and semis.
“Filipinos are so good but the problem is, they don’t know how to play sevens yet,” Bahadoran said. “Sevens is totally different. Even the body language is different. If we can have more practice and more competitions in the 7-a-side leagues in the Philippines, I promise you, we’ll definitely be champions within one to two years in Southeast Asia.”
Azkals head coach Hamed Hajemehdi echoed the sentiment.
“I think we have a good result for our first tournament,” said Hajemehdi. “We didn’t have enough time to train for this event but now we have the time now. We can focus on making our team stronger for the next tournament because there are so many talents out there.”
