Much Ado About a Tune-up Game

With less than a week for the Home Game, I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one surprised (and quite pissed) at reading this article by Eric Dimzon from his blogsite http://thehotdogstand.net about the apparent tune-up games of the Azkals vs so-called High School and College Kids.

(please see entire blog in this address: http://thehotdogstand.net/featured/philippine-azkals-training-in-germany-with-kids/#more-945)

Reading this, I can only deduce two things, that the author is not a football player nor a football fan. Otherwise, he would understand that the U19 Teams of Germany, despite being High School or College Kids as he presumed them to be are STILL at a higher level than our NT. Yes, a lot may disagree with me but this is the truth.. FOR NOW. Suffice to say that the advantage of these U19 Teams are mainly due to the fact that they compete in European leagues and therefore have a higher chance of exposure with other professional and national football teams and that their main sport (since time immemorial) would be football.

Does it mean then that all attempts by our NT fall short because of the simple fact that we don't compete in such leagues? By all means, no. But of course, the level of intensity and training is quite different than what we have. Why do you think did the PFF hire Coach Michael Weiss in the first place?

I believe that we should not try to see more than what these tune-up games are -- JUST TUNE-UP GAMES. They are played to get more exposure and gauge where the team is currently at with their training. Every tune-up game is played to learn more about the team's strengths, weaknesses and practice plays as well. It sure would be great if they win every game but that really is not the sole purpose of such. I, for one, applaud the coaching staff's honest assessment of their team and its strength in choosing teams to practice with.

At this point, criticism over the apparent choice of teams for tune-up games should not even be a concern for the fans and detractors, even. I think that focus on the actual game and opponent is where we should all concentrate our efforts on, what with it being so near. Let us just hope that all the players and coaching staff will be able to put into practice what they learned in tha training camp and these tune-up games and succeed in beating Sri Lanka.

Heck, I want to have more home games. Really.