No0b Watches a Football Game

I was so stoked to hear about ICanServe Foundation's Football Invitational. Three teams are up for a friendly match: Kaya FC, Global FC and the national team, PHL Azkals. Upon reading the news posted on my Facebook wall, I itched to get tickets to at least one of the matches. I'm a new football fan and I was ecstatic to watch a game on the newly renovated Rizal Stadium football pitch. I was eyeing on the Kaya FC vs Azkals Sept. 24 tickets but they weren't sold in advance. I was able to get my hands on the tickets for the Global FC vs Azkals match which happened last Wednesday.

I dragged my uncle and my sister with me to watch the game. We knew little about the game - well, my uncle played for a school team when he was in elementary, but that was decades ago - and watching the match was a little Football 101 class for us. The Azkals mostly had U23 category players on the pitch with well-known veterans like Caligdong, Gener and Araneta. I was a bit bummed out that the team captain, Aly Borromeo wasn't playing. He apparently had a minor injury during practice. He was the one I was looking forward most to see on the pitch. Global FC's Misagh Bahadoran was such an eye-catcher. Dude has mad skills. I've already watched a few matches on TV and I think I would be able to say that this match was a great one. It was a friendly game, but man, the teams played with so much gusto and aggressiveness. I wished all local games were like these. The game ended with Azkals winning with a score of 3-2.

Saying that I was the happiest kid that day was an understatement. I had a smile plastered on my face the whole night, reminiscent of the day I met 2/28 of the team. People were allowed to go down to the track to meet the players. I got few pictures with my favorites. I also felt stupid for not bringing a shirt for them to sign.

Cap'n Aly wasn't able to play due to a minor injury, but he was there to watch the game!

LRTB: Nate Burkey, Misagh Bahadoran, Chieffy Caligdong, Jason Sabio, James Younghusband plus my sister

(Sorry for the low-fi looking pictures. I brought my mom's point and shoot with me since DSLR's are not allowed inside the venue. Once again, I forgot to lower down the ISO settings thus the grainy, low-fi look. Also, please excuse my dorky face, I was too happy.)

So I guess you're asking, "why does this girl, who knows so little about the game, want to watch a match she barely understands?" It's all about learning. Football is a foreign sport to most Filipinos and some, like me, are just starting to wrap their minds around the mechanics of this popular sport. Yes, it all started with me having crushes on the players first before actually getting into the sport (just like what happened with Formula 1, see I'm an avid race watcher now and I talk about engines and technicalities now). Good looks is a tiny part of the equation (that's what fangirls are for) but these players' tantamount skills are the ones to look out for. As one article had mentioned, everything that comes after these boys' skills is just icing on the cake.