MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines’ astounding upset victory over dethroned champion Vietnam in the Asean Football Federation’s Suzuki Cup generated interest not just in the Asean and Asian regions but also the rest of the world.
Sports Illustrated, the highly popular US-based sports magazine and website, included the Filipino booters’ stirring 2-0 triumph over the heavily-favored Vietnamese in the group stages of the Suzuki Cup in its Top 10 soccer stories for the year about to end.
Written by Georgina Turner, the story described the Azkals’ win right on the Vietnamese turf as “the biggest upset in the history of the Suzuki Cup considering that RP is ranked a far 151st in the world by FIFA and that the Filipinos had never scored a goal against the Vietnamese in the last two decades.”
“The Asean Football Federation’s biennial Suzuki Cup might not be too high up on your list of priorities, but this year’s tournament produced arguably the biggest upset in its history: Defending champion and federation powerhouse Vietnam lost 2-0 to the Philippines, ranked 151st in the world and without so much as a point off Vietnam in nearly 20 years,” she wrote.
Turner also mentioned the unsportsmanlike gesture of Vietnam’s Portuguese coach Henrique Calisto towards RP’s British mentor Simon McMenemy at the end of the masterful triumph.
Vice President Jejomar Binay’s name was also mentioned in the story for reportedly promising to come up with an honest-to-goodness national battle plan in the Nationals’ future campaigns, including a crack at a chance to play in the 2014 World Cup.
“Accusing the Azkals of parking the bus, Vietnamese coach Henrique Calisto refused to shake his opposite number’s hand after that match,” said Turner.
“Simon McMenemy was upset by the gesture but wouldn’t be drawn into a slanging match after the result that prompted the country’s vice president, Jejomar Binay, to promise a national training program,” she added.
The corruption at FIFA was on top of the list after two of its members, Nigeria’s Amos Adamu and Tahiti’s Reynald Temarii, were suspended for allegedly offering to sell their votes to World Cup bidders as well as fanning suspicions that it was a standard practice to give the 2018 and 2022 tournaments to mega-rich but risky options Russia and Qatar, respectively, as part of FIFA chief Sepp Blatter’s plan of spreading the World Cup venues not just to Europe and the Americas to the rest of the world.
Spain’s World Cup conquest came in at No. 2 while the European teams blowing hot and cold in the World Cup, manager Jose Mourinho’s run in the Champions League, and English football ended up No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5, respectively.
French superstar Thierry Henry’s jump from European soccer to the Major League Soccer where he would suit up for the New York Red Bulls, the selling of English Premier club Liverpool to a whopping $237 million, unheralded Bursaspor’s explosive triumph in Turkey’s Super Lig, Champions League’s without an English Club for the first time in seven years, and finally RP’s giant-sized upset of Vietnam rounded up the Top 10.
So brilliant was the Philippines’ victory that it bested the hero-to-goat story of Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez, who was named The Netherlands’ Player of the Year for his goal-scoring exploits at Ajax and whose World Cup “save” put Uruguay into the semifinals at the expense of Ghana before he was slapped a seven-game suspension for biting PSV’s Otman Bakkal on the shoulder during a match in November.