Philippines[R]

After years of being loyal to Greuther Furth, the side he grew up with, Filipino national team player Stephan Schrock has decided to transfer to Bundesliga side TSV 1899 Hoffenheim starting next season on a free transfer. He has had opportunities to sign with a Bundesliga side in the past, but remained loyal to Greuther Furth, but apparently after recently getting married and a baby on the way, he decided to accept the lucrative offer and financial security that Hoffenheim provides this time around. It is ironic that he is doing this at a time when 2
Bundesliga side Greuther Furth is about to be promoted to the top tier league in Germany.

http://www.bundesliga.de/en/liga/news/2011/0000208354.php

http://translate.google.com/transla...tephan-schroeck-wechselt-abloesefrei-zur-tsg/

The first new signing for next season for sure. Stephan Schröck replaced free transfer from second division leaders Greuther Fuerth for TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. The 25-year-old defender has signed a contract with the Kraichgauern to 30 Signed in June 2015.

"I'm really looking forward to the challenge at TSG, which established itself in recent years in the Bundesliga and has made a name for," said Schröck his move. . "Here I can take the next step," Hoffenheim coach Markus Babbel says to his first new signing: "Stephen was a desire Schröck player of mine. He brings everything you need for a modern defender. With him we needed to win in future have more substance and alternatives in the defensive department. "

The son of a Filipina and a German played in his early youth for the DJK Schweinfurt, until he moved in 2001 to the youth of the B-Greuther Fuerth. About the A-managed youth learned the midfielder, who recently came to the right side of defense used in the 2004/05 season to break into the senior squad.

In addition to the career of the club Schröck went through in the years 2004 and 2005, the DFB, the teams from U18 to U20 for. Last year he changed to the Philippine Association and was there on 29 June 2011 his A-team debut at the game against Sri Lanka. A month later, on its second outing against Kuwait in the World Cup qualifier his first hit was followed by the national jersey. The game ended in a 1-2 defeat for the Philippines.

Characteristics

Name: Mark Stephen Cabizares Schröck

Date of birth: 21.08.1986

Nationality: German, Filipino

Height / weight: 1,70 m / 68kg

Games / Goals 2 Bundesliga: 178/7

___________________

N. B. When he eventually steps on the field with Hoffenheim, it is interesting to note that Stephan Schrock will not be the first member of the Philippine national football team to have played in the top tier Bundesliga. Denis Wolf played 4 games and scored 1 goal with Hanover 96 in 2003, before moving to the lower leagues and Dennis Cagara who plays for 2 Bundesliga side FSV Frankfurt, played for Hertha Berlin from 2004-08, while also on loan with other clubs during that time.

 

One of our national player's(Denis Wolf) teams in the lower German leagues, FC Magdeburg was experiencing a goal drought for the past 5 games, so the fans decided to take a more constructive and creative approach... Together with a giant banner reading 'Wir zeigen euch, wo das tor steht!' (rough translation: Don't worry chaps, we'll show you the goal is) ... Reasoning that their men had gone without a goal for five matches simply from having forgotten where the goal was, they decided to take giant dayglo arrows to the match to point their heroes in the right direction. The most brilliant thing of all? It actually worked.

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs...-show-goal-shy-team-where-goal-095626049.html

Watch as the fans move around carrying a glowing arrow sign pointing the goal to their players.

Unfortunately they still lost the match 1-2. But at least they finally scored a goal.

 

Phil Younghusband made it into Goal.com's Asian Best XI for March for scoring 6 goals in 5 games and in the process winning the Golden Boot Award in the AFC Challenge Cup. This might be the first time in the modern era that a Filipino has ever made it into any list for Asian Best XI. He is also leading the polls for Asian Player of the Month in that website. Congratulations Phil. You could have stayed in Europe and made a name for yourself but your dedication to your family and our country has led you to the less traveled route of gaining recognition by staying at home, promoting the sport and trying to lead this small football country to international football glory.

http://www.goal.com/en/news/1717/ed...-asian-best-xi-for-march-shinji-kagawa-suchao

Even more telling for Phil is that he is currently the highest goalscorer in full "A" rated international matches to date with 6 goals for 2012 acc. to the IFFHS and is rated #3 in the FIFA backed IFFHS list for World's top goalscorer 2012 which include all the goals scored in International Club, Continental competitions & World Club Championship games for 2012, next to Lionel Messi and Klaas Jan Huntelaar:

1. Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona/Argentina) 9 goals (3/6)
2. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (FC Schalke 04/Holland) 8 goals (1/7)
3. Philip James Placer Younghusband (Loyola Meralco Sparks/Philippines) 6 goals (6/0)
4. Didier Drogba (Chelsea Londres/Ivory Coast) 5 goals (4/1)
5. Roberto Soldado (Valencia CF/Spain) 5 goals (3/2)
6. Arjen Robben (FC Bayern/Holaand) 5 goles (2/3)
7. Radamel Falcao (Atlético de Madrid/Colombia) 5 goals (1/4).
8. Emmanuel Atukwei Clottey (Berekum Chelsea FC/Ghana) 5 goals (0/5).
9. Mario Gómez (FC Bayern/Germany) 5 goals (0/5).
.. Dorlan Mauricio Pabón (Atlético Nacional/Colombia) 5 goals (0/5).

http://www.iffhs.de/?388d85ff0e003c4f05f68e05b85fdcdc3bfcdc0aec70aeedb8a201

It is too bad that Phil has no chance of adding to this tally by participating in international club competitions as the Philippine leagues are not at the current time part of any of the AFC club competitions.

 

This is not bad list to be in with.

 

Let's not kid ourselves. He and James came to the PI because they didn't want to play in the 5th or lower division of England.

Now I think Phil has upped his game and could probably play in a first division somewhere but they both almost gave up playing when they came to the PI.

 

mike,

when he was first cut from Chelsea FC after playing a short while for their reserves, he had a few options including signing up with with the LA Galaxy. Of course, back then MLS offered him the salary of a rookie(which in MLS back then was almost not enough to live on) as was the norm for players in MLS with no first team experience in the big leagues in Europe. He could have tried playing for lower division teams in Europe and then moved up, but he felt discouraged by what his brother went through. His father at that time just recently died and he essentially became the breadwinner of the family. He decided to follow his brother at that point and moved to the Philippines with the entire family, where there was a support structure in place and a job offer available. I believe if he wasn't supporting his family, he would have stuck it out in Europe, which would have entailed a lot of traveling and possibly moving from club to club. I think he had a better chance of finding a club in a higher division than his brother was playing at as he was a much better player than James and had the recommendation of his ex manager Jose Mourinho to help him.

Since then, he could have moved and accepted a few offers abroad including one in Indonesia and most recently which he mentioned in an interview, a club in England, that was playing in the FA Cup. He says now though that he has commitments to the Younghusband Football Academy, and the Chelsea Soccer School that prevented him from accepting the offer. Having said that, I think if he received an offer that would have ensured his family's financial security moving forward, it is possible he might consider accepting that.

Ever since he started playing consistently in the increasingly professional UFL, his play has improved even eliciting praise from visiting teams like the LA Galaxy, and 3rd division Spanish club CF Intermadrid which by the way also inquired about his availability. During the interview he gave, he also mentioned that the brothers continue to try to improve their game, watching European club and international competitions, trying to add what they have seen from those games to their play and evaluating their performance after every game. So his exploits, in the Challenge Cup, is a reflection of all this.

FC Magdeburg striker and potential national team player Denis Wolf, who played 4 games and scored 1 goal in the Bundesliga back in 2003 with Hanover 96, described Phil Younghusband after training with him in Dubai, as the best forward he has ever played with and from what I have heard the players and management from CF Intermadrid were just as impressed when they scrimmaged. Of course, the opposing teams in the Challenge Cup singled him out as the most dangerous player on the Philippine team and the centerpiece of a very potent Philippine attacking force.

Here is a recent podcast(35') interview the Younghusband brothers gave recently talking about their time with Chelsea and the school that the club is opening in the Philippines including some of the comments I have made above. They describe the Chelsea School as a long term program geared more towards intermediate and advanced students that will eventually be formed into teams and compete in international youth competitions down the road.

http://bleachersbrew.blogspot.com/2012/03/bleachers-brew-podcast-7-talking.html

 

Pinoy Footballers Abroad - (March 27-April 2)

http://soccercentral.ph/feature/pinoy-footballers-abroad-march-27-april-2

 

hello there mga kababayan, i didn't realize that even in this large community i will found a pinoy thread, good day guys and mabuhay.

 

Welcome to the thread Jeff. Feel free to jump in with your comments anytime you want. With all the progress and improvements going on with football in the Philippines, this thread has been pretty active lately and is one of the most followed threads in bigsoccer and not only by our kababayans but also by interested observers and fans from other countries.

 

Sure enough Phil Younghusband won Goal.com readers' Asian Player of the Month for March for scoring 6 goals in the Challenge Cup. Congratulations Phil for this well deserved award. I hope this motivates you to do better in the future.

http://www.goal.com/en/news/14/asia...afc-challenge-cup-hero-phil-younghusband-wins

 

In my point of view, this recognition for Phil Younghusband vindicates Philippine football as a whole. Although the team has taken little steps, these are little steps towards the right direction.


Not only is this a good "pat on the shoulder" for Phil, but it is a pat on the shoulder for the team as well. To be a top scorer, you can't do it yourself - in most cases someone else need to pass or cross the ball to you, someone else need to intercept or tackle to get the ball and pass it, and so much more. So the team is indeed progressing.

 

All Philippines media wrote about the poll in goal. com and Phil Younghusband retweeted link the poll to his 300.000 (!) followers on Twitter. How could he avoid not winning ?

 

Well, in the comment section on the poll, there were a lot of neutral observers from other countries outside of Asia, who did agree that if you only consider the results for the month of March alone, without looking at the strength of the competition(vis a vis European vs Asian competition) or the actual skill level of the players, Phil deserved to be on the list as well as win the award. Of course most fans would vote for their players if given a choice, but interestingly a lot of European neutral observers thought he deserved it, which should vindicate his winning the award.

Indeed I agree with stellarboy. Phil getting better results lately, is a reflection of the improvement of the team(both individually and in terms of team play) especially on offence. As for the defensive part of our game, the team still needs a lot of catching up to do if they want to move to the next level. The amazing part of all this is that we still haven't seen the best possible Philippine team play.

If you look at the list for players in the 20 top tier leagues in Europe plus 5 best leagues in the 2nd tier, in the Asians in Europe thread, the Philippines has the 4th most numbers of players in that category with 7 next only to Australia, Japan and South Korea. Of those 7, only 2 were allowed to play in the Challenge Cup. I am looking forward to a time when we can actually have all our players together in a competitive tournament in Asia.

 

I do agree with you, Pelefan. Commenters outside Asia (mainly from England and the US) keep insisting that Phil deserves this recognition, although they still manage to cite Kagawa. A few are also concerned about the bashings between Asian fans in relation to the poll.

Karl from the US says: "the Philippines is not a footballing country... They had to qualify for the tournament and they almost made it to the finals of the challenge cup. So interms of contribution to his side success then he should get the nod."

ronny from Sussex says: "scoring wise i think younghusband is better. he is more clinical in my opinion than kagawa. as a player i think kagawa is better"

FreedomguyUK from Leeds: "No opinions are wrong. Let the people vote for whomever they want. Don't try to squeeze your beliefs on their faces. You Asians pull each other down, instead of help each other up. I guess this is why your brand of football is lagging behind. Didn't vote, I'm not Asian."

ken from Oxford: "phil younghusband formerly from chelsea deserves honour and recognition. he sacrificed a stellar career at stamford bridge to help rise up the ranks of the "azkals" philippines team. truly a success story in the making for philippines football."

 

In case anyone would like to know the impact the Younghusband brothers have made in making football a major sport in the country, here is an article last year in Readers Digest Asia entitled "The Posterboys of Philippine Football"

http://www.rdasia.com/posterboys-of-philippine-football/

You can read from their comments how dedicated they are in promoting football in the Philippines, traveling all over the country to teach and sell the sport, willingly playing the part as role models, and finally establishing the Younghusband Football Academy and initiating ties with Chelsea FC in order to open up the Chelsea School, to ensure that their students will get the best training down the line. Their impact on Philippine football, will resonate long after they decide to hang up their boots and retire.

Even while growing up in England, they have always had close links to their mother's country as is mentioned in their responses and might explain to some degree, why Phil Younghusband decided to move to the Philippines instead of staying on in Europe and continue his playing career:

Was it hard to accept the Philippine Football Federation’s invitation to play for the Philippine Azkals?
James: Our Dad passed away in 2003 when I was 17 but our mother, Susan, comes from a close knit family in the Philippines. We would visit every year. We grew up loving the Philippines. I moved here permanently a year after Phil did but we were very comfortable with the culture and people long before that.

Phil: We were playing for Chelsea Football Club in London, one of the biggest football clubs in the world when the Philippine Football Federation invited us to play for the national team in the 2005 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games. We’re proud to have Filipino blood and didn’t hesitate to accept the invitation. When my contract ended with Chelsea in 2008, I decided to move to the Philippines and play for the country. My family had planned to move to my mother’s homeland and it was just a matter of when we would actually do it. We all moved sooner than expected but we’re very happy we did.

In an article on gulf news.com entitled "I feel more Filipino than English",
Phil explained his decision to move to the Philippines:

Could you have played on at an English club?

My brother was released from Chelsea the year before me and I saw what he went through trying to find a club and I didn't want to go through that. Before my contract ended I had already played for the Philippines and once it ended I felt more comfortable staying in Manila. I could have looked for clubs in Europe or America, but I'm glad I made this decision.

http://gulfnews.com/sport/football/phil-younghusband-i-feel-more-filipino-than-english-1.976997

I used to think that it would have been better for the Philippine national team if Phil had decided to continue his playing career abroad, but considering how influential the brothers were in making football a major sport in the Philippines, I now believe that his choice to move to the Philippines instead, would end up being the better decision for Philippine football, when all is said and done.

 

This article by Football Pakistan dated 2 March cites Philippines national team manager Dan Palami as a model for Pakistan in search of a solution for a better national team manager.

http://www.footballpakistan.com/2012/03/pak-football-team-needs-a-proper-manager/

To quote their citation:
"Take Dan Palami for example of the Philippines, he picked up the team when it was struggling to attract crowds, TV coverage and sponsors, and low FIFA world rankings in the 180s. His job was to recruit players of Filipino origin worldwide, arrange for a fulltime National team coach, and attract sponsors, media coverage and the rest.

The Philippines team is now one of the rapidly improving teams in Asia with heavy contingent of overseas born Filipino players, foreign coaches for both senior and junior teams alongside. Palami has transformed the football in his country, helping in getting the biggest TV deal in Filipino football history, with increasing corporate sponsorship further improving the standard of football in the country.

As a result large crowds turning up to watch not only national team but also the country’s once-amateur United Football League, with players now earning ten folds more in local football leagues. The man has transformed the unknown ‘Azkals’ - meaning ‘street dogs’ - into national super stars."

As I have observed with their recent performances, the Pakistan Football Federation must look for a "Dan Palami" type of manager. Although they enjoy a much decent football history than the Philippines has, their problems lie on how to cope with endemic problems that surround their football association.

The Philippine Football Federation, like most national sports associations in the country, is a victim of endemic corruption that is plaguing the country for decades. In spite of this, Palami, a businessman of sorts, made sacrifices by investing his own money to build what could be the most successful national team seen so far, and in return, rebuild an awareness of the sport in a country so obsessed with basketball for decades, and make the future of football brighter for generations of Filipinos to come.

I do hope other struggling nations could emulate him as well.

 

To those who complain(especially Japanese fans and jonny as well) about our fans voting Phil Younghusband as Asia's best player for March in goal.com instead of the overlooked Japanese player Kagawa, all I can say is maybe they should have voted more for Kagawa then. After all they do this all the time in Major League Baseball.

Japanese baseball(#1 sport in Japan) fans are just as guilty of voting for their favorite player. In MLB, Texas Rangers rookie Yu Darvish from Japan was already voted one of the toughest pitchers to face, and he has not even played an official game yet in MLB when this poll was taken. Same thing when there are polls dealing with other Japanese players in the Majors, they get voted strongly by their fans, despite the fact they don't really dominate.

I guess Japanese baseball fans do a better job of supporting their players than Japanese football fans do.

The Thai and Iranian football fans certainly did their part in the poll, though they didn't quite match the Filipinos this time around.

 

Real Madrid is conducting a coach'es seminar and a kid's summer camp in the Philippines courtesy of YKK.

http://www.philstar.com/SportsArticle.aspx?articleId=796661&publicationSubCategoryId=200

 

Schedule for the Azkals in June
Listed on FIFA website and confirmed by the PFF
June 1 Philippines-Malaysia in Malaysia
June 5 Philippines-Indonesia in the Philippines
Still to be confirmed are the fixtures for June 8 and 12 with
China U-23 and Thailand initially invited for those dates both in the Philippines. However
because of current tense relations bet. China and the Philippines arising from the
Scarborough Shoal standoff, the China fixture might not push through. Other countries
mentioned are Vietnam and Hongkong.

There is a good probability that the Philippines will be fielding a nearly full strength team for the June matches as the European season would be finished by then and the fixtures are listed on FIFA match dates, although a few players are still uncertain because of wedding plans, work issues arising from their 2nd job, possibly school commitments or injury.

More on the Chelsea FC Summer School Camp from April 17 to May 10 and the official opening of the Chelsea Soccer School in cooperation with the Younghusband Football Academy on May 15. It is part of expanding the club’s “Blue Pitch” program which aims to develops youth football from all over Asia. Currently it only has one official Asian venue in Hongkong.

http://www.interaksyon.com/interakt...g-philippine-football-camp-with-younghusbands

 

It looks like the UFL is getting some recognition in SEA. Loyola Meralco Sparks have been invited to compete in the Singapore Cup in May as this article states:

Loyola Meralco Sparks to compete in Singapore Cup
by rick olivares

The Loyola Meralco Sparks will be competing in the prestigious Singapore Cup that kicks off this May 14, 2012 in Singapore. The Football Association of Singapore extended the invitation to the Sparks after they topped the first round of the United Football League.

It was only in recent years where foreign clubs were invited to participate. Thai clubs have done well in the competition with Bangkok Glass FC beating Tampines Rovers 1-0 in 2010.

Should Loyola perform well in the early phase of the tournament, the next stage of the competition will take place in the second half of 2012.

The Football Association of Singapore has sent the official invitation to the Philippine Football Federation for endorsement.

�This is a big step for not just Loyola but also for the UFL and Philippine football in general because this is the first time a Philippine team is being invited to this tournament,� said the Sparks� president Randy Roxas. �We hope to do well in this competition because it validates what the UFL has been trying to do � professionalize Philippine football.�

The tournament rules state that clubs may only list four foreigners in their lineup.

http://bleachersbrew.blogspot.com/2012/04/loyola-meralco-sparks-to-compete-in.html

Loyola is the club that the Younghusband brothers play for and are currently 2nd in the UFL to Global, with a game in hand. A win will allow them to retake 1st place. They also include some of the Hartmann brothers who are Fil Brits as well. Since they are national team members and carry Philippine passports this will allow more of the other members of the team who come from abroad to play as well. This competition will be a good gauge of where our UFL teams stand vis a vis our SEA counterparts. Loyola is coached by a Korean manager Chul Su Kim and have Korean players in the team as well.

I am not quite sure if the ASEAN club championship will push through this year as there has been no news of it lately, especially with the uncertainty hanging over the Indonesian football federation, so the Singapore Cup is a good way for the Philippines to show their improvement in club football instead within SEA.

 

Very interesting and exciting.

 

More details on the Singapore Cup:

The Singapore Cup is a four-stage tournament with the preliminary round a single leg competition from May 14-21. Should Loyola win its preliminary round match and qualify for the two-legged quarterfinals, the team will be required to return to Singapore to play both legs. Should the club make it to the semifinals, the same will apply. The final will be played on Sunday, October 28, 2012.

The Singapore Cup champion will receive Singapore $80,000 while the first, second, and third runners-up will receive $40,000, $20,000., and $10,000 respectively.

Losing quarterfinalists will each receive $4,000 and the preliminary round losers $2,000.

This is a good competition for the Loyola Meralco Sparks to join in, as there is a good possibility they will
be facing stronger teams who compete in the AFC Champion's League, the league reserved for developed football nations in Asia. Being invited for this tournament means that the UFL is finally getting international recognition for its efforts to professionalize the league and improve its standard of play.

 

druryfire,

Exciting times indeed for Philippine football as Loyola might be facing the likes of Bangkok Glass and South Melbourne who played in previous years in the Singapore Cup.

BTW, since you are British, I thought you might like to know that the Philippines is one win away(if they beat Sri Lanka tomorrow) from joining the top 5 Asian nations in Asian Rugby Football Union, from which cast in 2014 will be decided the Asian representative to the Rugby World Cup.

 

It's very exciting in the Philippines altogether. They certainly have made people take note.

I'm not a big rugby fan, but i do keep a wandering eye on it. There's Japan in the 5 nations though, and they appear a step ahead of the rest.

I noticed recently that the UAE have a team now rather than the Arabian nations team a that level and most of the players appear to be English rejects, let's hope that doesn't happen for the phills.

Footballing wise, really, i should have documented whats happened, as I'm sure their recent rise would make an excellant book.