Fil-fors make FIFA World Cup debut

MANILA, Philippines - Two Fil-foreigners are on the rosters of countries participating at the 20th FIFA World Cup to be played in 12 venues across Brazil starting with the host nation playing Croatia in Sao Paolo this morning (Manila time).

Goalkeeper Nick Rimando, 34, was named to the US 23-man squad coached by Jurgen Klinsmann, a striker on the German team that won the 1990 World Cup in Italy. Rimando’s father is of Filipino descent and his mother is Mexican. The 5-10 veteran is one of only nine US players employed in Major League Soccer. The others campaign overseas.

“Everyone knows I’m Filipino because of my eyes,” said Rimando quoted by Truth Esguerra in the Philippine News. “I’m happy to be Filipino and I’m happy to be American and being in the US playing soccer. It doesn’t matter what color your skin is or what color your hair is. I’m out there doing my job and they look at me as a person.” Rimando has never been to the Philippines but said he hopes to visit someday soon.

Free kick specialist Jonathan de Guzman, 26, is another Fil-foreigner making his debut in the World Cup. The 5-9 midfielder’s father Bobby is Filipino and mother Pauline is Jamaican. Born in Canada, De Guzman took out Dutch citizenship in 2008 and played for the Netherlands at the Beijing Olympics. He could’ve opted to play for the Canadian national team but decided to join the Flying Dutchmen who finished second at the 2010 World Cup. De Guzman’s brother Julian, 33, plays for the Canadian national squad and as an import in the Greek league.

There is a proliferation of “mixed-blood” players at the World Cup, reflective of the composition of the Philippine Azkals. For instance, five American-Germans or Jurgen-Americans referring to their German coach were picked for the US team. They are Jermaine Jones, 32, Fabian Johnson, 26, Timmy Chandler, 24, Julian Green, 18, and John Brooks, 21 – all sons of US servicemen. Three more American-Germans – Terrence Boyd, 23, Alfredo Morales, 23 and Danny Williams, 25 – were in the candidates pool but failed to make the final cut.

Other US players of foreign descent are Mikkel Diskerud (Norway), Aron Johansson (Iceland), Alejandro Bedoya (Colombia) and Jozy Altidore (Haiti). The entry of younger and “mixed-blood” players left no space for homegrown heroes like Landon Donovan. US Soccer president Sunil Gulati explained the dynamics of globalization in the world’s most popular sport. “What would one do?” said Gulati quoted by Kelly Whiteside of the Gannett News Service. “Say to the coach, you can only pick players who have been here for 25 years and have certain roots? Well, I’d be talking to a coach who has roots somewhere else if I made that sort of statement.  My very strong comment about it is that four of five American-German players are American citizens by nature of having an American serviceman father. If anyone wants to tell me they have less of a right to play for the US, we strongly disagree.”

The US is bracketed in Group G, otherwise known as the Group of Death, with Germany, Portugal and Ghana. Germany is a perennial title contender with consecutive Round of 8 finishes in the last 15 World Cups. Coach Joachim Low was Klinsmann’s assistant on the German team at the 2006 World Cup but relationship isn’t a factor when it comes to playing for the six-kilogram, 18-karat-gold trophy symbolic of global supremacy in football. Former German star Michael Ballack said the transformation of the national team from a defense-oriented to an offense-minded attacking squad has led to several exciting qualifier matches with 36 goals booted in and 10 given up. Heading the German charge are captain Philipp Lahm and midfielder Thomas Muller who took the Golden Boot at the 2010 World Cup with four goals and three assists.

Portugal is all about Cristiano Ronaldo who scored every goal and took 19 of his team’s 36 shots to power a 4-2 aggregate playoff win over Sweden to qualify for the World Cup. He compiled eight of Portugal’s 24 goals in 10 qualifying matches. Coach Paulo Bento knows while Ronaldo may be the world’s best player today, Portugal will need to develop more options if he hopes to go far in Brazil. That means quality play from defender Fabio Coentrao, midfielder Joao Moutinho, midfielder Raul Meireles and defender Pepe.

Ghana has the lowest ranking in Group G and isn’t expected to survive the preliminaries. What’s interesting is the match between Ghana and Germany on June 21. Attacking midfielder Kevin Prince Boateng, 27, plays for Ghana while his brother Jerome, 25, suits up for Germany. Ghana’s star is Asamoah Gyan, the cat-quick striker who scored the marginal goal to eliminate the US in the knockout Round of 16 at the 2010 World Cup.

There are 32 teams split into eight groups of four at the World Cup. Representing Asia are Japan (in Group C with Colombia, Greece and the Ivory Coast), Iran (in Group F with Argentina, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Nigeria) and South Korea (in Group H with Algeria, Belgium and Russia). In all, 64 matches will be played, including the final in Rio de Janeiro on July 13. Each group will feature six matches in the preliminaries then the top two finishers of each group advance to the knockout Round of 16. Survivors move on to play in the knockout Round of 8 quarterfinals. The first semifinal match is scheduled on July 8 and the second on July 9. The third place match is set on July 12 in Brasilia.

Brazil will attempt to become the seventh team to win the World Cup as host country. Teams that won at home were Uruguay in 1930, Italy in 1934, England in 1966, Germany in 1974, Argentina in 1978 and France in 1998. Coach Luiz Felipe Scolari’s reliables include star striker Neymar, Oscar and David Luiz. “Brazil has some of the most breathtakingly skilled players in the world and you can bet it will treat the group games as a big national party,” wrote Nate Scott. “Brazilians just don’t demand wins, they want to win in style.” Football analyst Mike Foss said, “Inability to cope with the enormous pressure is the only way this team doesn’t win the tournament.”