AFF VP warns of sabotage

MANILA, Philippines - Asean Football Federation (AFF) vice president and Philippine Football Federation (PFF) chairman emeritus Johnny Romualdez yesterday advised national team officials to be vigilant in thwarting possible efforts by unscrupulous quarters to sabotage the Suzuki Cup two-match semifinal series in Jakarta today and Sunday.

Romualdez, a former PFF president, said there are rumors of off-field shenanigans where big-time bettors try to manipulate the scores of high-profile games by bribing and even resorting to food poisoning.

The Philippines plays Indonesia twice at the 88,000-seat Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta for the right to face the winner of the other semifinal series between Vietnam and Malaysia in the finals on Dec. 26 and 29.

 “The hometown advantage is a big factor,” said Romualdez who was the AFF supervisor in Indonesia’s wins over Malaysia (5-1), Laos (6-0) and Thailand (2-1) leading to the semifinals. “When our team enters the field for the warm-ups 20 to 30 minutes before the match, there will be about 20,000 to 30,000 fans booing. The booing will get louder as the stadium fills up to capacity which is close to 90,000. Every Filipino player will be booed to the heavens. They won’t stop booing at the top of their voices even when our national anthem is played. It’s unnerving. If you don’t know how to cope with it, you’ll be shaken up – whether you’re a referee, coach or player. It’s important for our players to control their emotions. You can’t afford to lose your head with all those fans booing. You have to play over the crowd.”

Romualdez said heavy betting is expected in the semifinals. “They’ll accept bets of plus three to five and do what they can to weaken the opposition,” he continued. “The AFF security officers, however, do a good job of keeping things in order. But expect anything. In the matches leading to the semifinals, I saw players from one team partying with girls at night. You wonder where the girls came from. Then, there is the danger of food poisoning. I know one national team, when it plays overseas, brings along a chef who buys food from the market and cooks for the players so they don’t depend on the food that is provided by the hosts. They can sabotage your food. Fortunately, during a match, it’s not as scary as before anymore. The AFF knows how to exercise crowd control.”

Romualdez said Indonesia is a formidable team and will test the Azkals’ vaunted defense.

 “Our strength is height,” said Romualdez. “Our back four are quite tall and strong and our two strikers are deadly. We play a 4-4-2 formation. Our two strikers are Phil Younghusband and Ian Araneta. Our midfielders are Jason de Jong, Chris Greatwich, James Younghusband and Roel Gener or Emelio Caligdong while our back defenders are Aly Borromeo, Anton del Rosario, Rob Gier and Ray Jonsson. Our central defenders, Aly and Rob, are strong in the air. I think our MVP is our goalkeeper Neil Etheridge. Our defense is formed around him. We clog the penalty area and force our opponents to shoot from outside. The only way they can score against us is with low balls from the side or down the middle.”

Romualdez said Indonesia will use speed to try to offset the Azkals’ edge in height, defense and goalkeeping.

“What’s going against us is our team was complete only on the day the tournament started,” he went on. “Before playing in Hanoi, we went to Thailand for training and only about 11 players showed up. The rest arrived in Hanoi. That’s because many of our players come from different countries. The good thing is as they play longer as a unit, they get better with more teamwork. They get to know each other’s moves more. In the game against Singapore, we concentrated more on defense because we still weren’t comfortable with our offense. But against Myanmar, we passed a lot more and we were more aggressive in attacking. I expect since we’ve been together now for several matches, we will attack more and play better as a team in the semifinals.”

Romualdez said the Azkals’ Fil-foreign players aren’t used to playing every other day. “It’s not done in the European leagues but in the Suzuki Cup before the semifinals and finals, matches are played every other day because the longer the intervals between games, the more expensive it is,” he explained. “In the semifinals, the intervals are longer so our Fil-foreign players are more accustomed to the schedule. In the qualifying rounds, there’s very little time to rest up and regroup because players are exhausted playing so often.”

Asked about PFF president-in-limbo Jose Mari Martinez’ suggestion to enlist Fil-British striker Chad Gould for the semifinals, Romualdez said “it’s not up to him, it’s up to the coach (Simon McMenemy) – when I was the PFF president, I never got involved in decisions relating to player movements.” Romualdez said he has nothing against Gould who is an exceptional player and it’s a good idea to bring him in if possible but it’s nobody’s call except McMenemy’s.

Borromeo, the Azkals skipper, said the team submitted a 22-man lineup to the AFF the day before the start of the Suzuki Cup tournament proper and it excluded Gould. “There’s no way to bring in Chad for the semifinals or the finals,” said Borromeo.

Martinez boasted that with his influence, he could convince the AFF to allow Gould to play. He contacted Gould, who is in England, and invited him to fly to Jakarta. But Gould declined the invitation, saying it would be embarrassing if he showed up as a player trying to sneak into the team. Martinez said the team could also use fullback Roxy Dorlas because he noticed the left side of the defense is weak.

McMenemy said it was “disrespectful” for Martinez to even suggest player changes at this stage of the competition. “It’s not disrespect for me but for the players who’ve worked so hard to make it to the semifinals,” said the English coach. “It’s incredible what this team has achieved so far. I’m very proud of the players. They deserve recognition. We know Indonesia is a tough opponent but we’ll do our best out there – that we promise.”