Philippines[R]

Livestream of Philippines Yemen

 

Muller will start at goalkeeper

sports.inquirer.net/198598/muller-to-start-at-goalkeeper-for-azkals-vs-yemen#ixzz3rBi2KgbW

Roland Muller will get the start at goalkeeper when the Philippine Azkals battle Yemen on Thursday at Rizal Memorial Coliseum.

Azkals coach Thomas Dooley said on Wednesday that Muller will start in lieu of Neil Etheridge, who was hampered by a leg injury during the training camp.

“I don’t want to take any risk,” Dooley said on Wednesday at the prematch press conference at Manila Hotel. “Roland had an excellent training session yesterday. He did an excellent job. He looked sharp, very quick. The way that I saw him in the Challenge Cup, he was outstanding over there.”

Etheridge had his first practice with the team on Tuesday, but was limited in his time on the pitch.

Dooley said, “He’s not 100-percent, and it’s still unknown if it holds for the game or not. So for me, it’s a reason that he’s not going to play.”

This would be the first time in the 2018 Fifa World Cup qualifiers that Etheridge won’t be the last line of defense for the Azkals.

 

Do you know what time this would at in the US?

EDIT: Nevermind 4AM pacific

 

Yup there is a countdown if you clicked the link.

 

At Kaya FC Academy, grassroots football starts at a young age

Kaya Academy, started by one man looking for a place for his son to play, now has 800 enrollees and is the model for sustainable grassroots football growth in the Philippines

Updated 7:11 AM, November 08, 2015




COACH CHRIS. Chris Greatwich's commitment to Kaya FC goes beyond coaching the main team.

MANILA, Philippines - From the age they can walk, children in the Philippines are already dribbling a basketball. Relatively few places exist where youngsters can kick a football around with their friends compared to the facilities available for the de facto national sport.

That was a big reason why Raffy Herrera decided to create what would become Kaya FC Academy in 2010. Herrera, who had once traveled to Europe to pursue his own interest in football, was simply looking for a place where his son, Nino, could play.

Naturally, playing football alone can get boring, and other children joined. The squad was called FC Elite and consisted of 40 kids looking for a place outside of their school teams to play. They entered the Poten-Cee Cup, the first high quality under-17 youth tournament, in 2011. And won.

It was then that Herrera realized he had something special on his hands.

“A decade ago, or two decades ago, when you reach the age of 12-13, that’s it,” Herrera tells Rappler. “You play with your school, that’s the only football here. There’s no formal academy here. Kids have nowhere to go, that’s why I thought of FC Elite.”

Success was measured, but in time the academy started drawing attention. One of those people who took notice was Santi Araneta, owner of the Kaya FC team of the United Football League (UFL). The academy merged with the team and took the club’s name.

The academy, which began initially with 6 enrollees, became 120 before one of the key players on the country’s national team took a major role in the academy.

Chris Greatwich had been around football all his life. Born in Westminster, England, the midfielder had spent time with the Philippine national football team known as the Azkals. Greatwich would joke often that he was a better coach than he was a player, despite his many achievements on the field. His commitment to the academy in 2013 was a game changer.

“Chris came in, then it took off,” Herrera recalls. “He knew everything, he knew how to manage an academy. Basically he just did it from scratch and look at us now.”

For Greatwich, working with young people comes naturally. Prior to relocating to the Philippines, he was based in New Jersey, teaching children as young as age 3 how to play football.

“That’s hard coming from a professional background where things have come quite easy for me with elite level kids that I worked with before,” said Greatwich, the academy's director and the recently-appointed coach of the Kaya FC team in the UFL.

“To teach little girls that have never kicked a ball in their life really teaches you to break down every little technical aspect. That for me was a very good grounding of how to teach kids.”

The academy hopes to foster the interest of young footballers and - hopefully - create a sustainable club model similar to the standard in Europe, where young people grow up with their clubs before making the first team.

“It’s a pretty monumental task,” Greatwich concedes. “Ultimately we want to be on a level where we can compete with the best teams of Southeast Asia, that’s the aim. The overview is to have a more sustainable club, more homegrown players coming through the system.

“In terms of trying to build a club, we’re trying to get kids from a young age to buy into what we’re trying to do and hopefully year on year we’ll start to push kids into our first team and then it becomes a conveyor belt, it’s just a player factory, player after player who has come through the system, understands the culture, they understand the system, they understand what it means to play for the club. And that takes time.”

Currently, the academy has 800 students at 4 locations at McKinley Hill, Bonifacio Global City and Alabang’s Cuenca Field, plus 20 special needs players based out of their location at One World School in North Forbes.



Former Azkals player Chris Greatwich lectures groups of young players at Emperador Stadium. Photo courtesy Kaya Academy

The academy caters to serious footballers, but also has recreational teams for kids who want to play for fun. The youngest students are aged 6, with players in the KayaFC Elite team being comprised of 15-17 year olds.

Kaya's U-19 team, known as KayaB or their second team, is applying for a place in the UFL's second division for next season.

"Hopefully some of the boys there can play the first team. That’s the system Europe that we’re using right now," said Herrera. I think no other club in the Philippines is doing it. I think we’re the only one."

So far 3 players from their academy have cracked the defending UFL Cup champions’ squad, including Nino Herrera, Rocky Plaza and Nico Cruz. All 3 are currently collegiate players (Herrera is from Ateneo, Cruz is at University of the Philippines while Plaza plays at Knox College in Illinois, USA), as are 27 other players. And when they’re ready to play in the pros, they’ll have a spot to return to.

“When they come back, they’re still Kaya players,” said Herrera.

On the field, the academy has racked up domestic titles. In the 2015 UFL Youth League, Kaya fielded teams in 5 age groups for boys and one team for girls. Of those 5 teams, 5 of them made the playoffs, 4 made the semifinals and 3 made the finals, while the U-17 team won the championship for the third straight year.

Championships indicate the progress the academy has made, but it’s not the only way the academy is measuring success.

“For me that’s not the barometer for success,” said Greatwich. “The barometer for success for me would be, how many players can we get progressing through into the first team? How many kids can we get on full scholarships to go to college?”

“It’s not only football we instill," adds Herrera. “We push them to study hard in school, and after school, their Kaya family is here.”

www.rappler.com/sports/by-sport/football/111688-kaya-academy-grassroots-football

Fil Brit former Azkal Chris Greatwich brought the model of European academy training to the Philippines and it has been bearing fruit. Along with current Azkal and former Chelsea reserve Phil Younghusband's Chelsea FC academy, our national team players from abroad have contributed more to Philippine football beyond the pitch, by helping many young players succeed in the sport.

Before he decided to take over the Kaya FC academy, Chris was also the coach and grassroots development director of the Morris County Colonials in the US, a team that plays in the NPSL, so his coaching experiences has been invaluable to Kaya FC.

 

Muller will start at goalkeeper and Stephan Schrock will be the captain in the absence of Phil Younghusband.

sports.inquirer.net/198598/muller-to-start-at-goalkeeper-for-azkals-vs-yemen#ixzz3rBi2KgbW

Roland Muller will get the start at goalkeeper when the Philippine Azkals battle Yemen on Thursday at Rizal Memorial Coliseum.

Azkals coach Thomas Dooley said on Wednesday that Muller will start in lieu of Neil Etheridge, who was hampered by a leg injury during the training camp.

“I don’t want to take any risk,” Dooley said on Wednesday at the prematch press conference at Manila Hotel. “Roland had an excellent training session yesterday. He did an excellent job. He looked sharp, very quick. The way that I saw him in the Challenge Cup, he was outstanding over there.”

Etheridge had his first practice with the team on Tuesday, but was limited in his time on the pitch.

Dooley said, “He’s not 100-percent, and it’s still unknown if it holds for the game or not. So for me, it’s a reason that he’s not going to play.”

This would be the first time in the 2018 Fifa World Cup qualifiers that Etheridge won’t be the last line of defense for the Azkals.

 

I think it is the first time I have a seen a team in the Philippines have ambitions of setting up a pyramidal club academy developmental system that starts at 3 to 4 y/o all the way to the seniors. Of course it is not like those found in clubs in developed football countries such as Ajax, where they have extensive scouting(that can find the best talent for their academy) and mature development systems, but it is a promising start considering their limited funding. Acc. to the interview he gave on hans on, they plan to pursue this long term.

In most countries in Europe, players are developed mostly through the effort of their respective clubs(and not the FA), because they are responsible for their day to day development and will reap the benefits when they have players that graduate to the senior level or are sold to other clubs. It is a system that was lacking in the Philippines, so I am impressed that Chris Greatwich who had experience running a similar program here in the US, is trying to emulate it with Kaya FC. It is a model that I hope to see copied by other clubs in the UFL 1st division as well as those in the national league that is scheduled to be implemented in 2 years.

Having a club based in the Western Visayas(where football is more popular) implement a similar pyramidal developmental system in a future national league would be the best barometer of how successful this system can be, but for right now Chris and Kaya are showing how it can be implemented successfully at the regional level in Metro Manila.

 

Tough result for PI.

Just need to get enough points to stay ahead of Bahrain now. Asian Cup is much more attainable than WC right now.

 

As I mentioned in the Group H thread, they just did not have enough preparation for the October and November matches. The UFL season finished 2 months ago, no friendlies were scheduled, and they only got together a few days prior to the games. Despite winning most of the possession and shots on goal, the players just didn't look as sharp as they did a few months ago and the FA wasn't helping with preparations. As for Dooley, he should have called up the local players in the interim for regular training, to keep them in shape and maybe try to arrange friendlies with clubs from neighboring countries. With a well prepared team, they really had no business losing to Yemen.

Looking forward, I think they now need to focus on the Asian Cup qualifiers as well for the upcoming Suzuki Cup. Anyways in retrospect, the results of this edition of WC qualifying was much better than before especially considering how difficult the group was. The 2nd placed team might not even advance to the 3rd round and will also have to settle for the Asian Cup qualifiers. It might be different if the luck of the draw gave us an easier group, but all you can do is play the hands that you were dealt with. Even though I am a little disappointed, as long as they keep improving every 4 years cycle, we really have nothing to complain about.

 

Exactly.

Hence why I am optimistic about their Asian Cup chances.

 

Highly unlikely at this stage. The tie against Uzbekistan is pretty much a certain loss. Getting a result against North Korea is a tough ask, perhaps another draw at best and you would expect Bahrain to beat Yemen at home. However, the Philippines would still be in a position to be one of the four best fourth placed teams to get into ACQ.

 

Lack of preparation aside, they should've gotten at least 4 points more! In October, they managed to hold North Korea, obviously a good result. But Dooley effed up the away trip to Bahrain! Main problem was fatigue, yet Dooley set the team up to try to win it and they played that way from start to finish. Had he been a bit more conservative, a goalless draw would've been likely. Although against Yemen, can't really fault Dooley if the players like Steuble in particular can't score from what was pretty much a tap in.

Overall I think Dooley is starting to lose the plot. From this 3-4-3 system, to the players he calls up (or doesn't), to match day selections and tactics and lack of preparation. It looks like he doesn't know what he's doing anymore.

Well, they did improve in the previous cycle yet you had more than enough to complain about. But anyway, on this topic, I think this is the last cycle where you'll see a Philippine team this competitive for a long time given the ages of a majority of the players and their overall experience. If the Philippines doesn't reach the Asian Cup this time, who knows when they will.

 

Omid Nazari has signed with local UFL club Global FC. He says he wants to join the national team as well if he can.

 

I saw the Younghusbands at Starbucks Rockwell back in February this year, boy are they 2 good looking brothers (no homo)

 

Yup, the Younghusbands are great ambassadors for popularizing the sport in the Philippines, because of their looks and playing ability. They are also very active in promoting the sport over there, including establishing a football academy in partnership with Chelsea FC, their former team, as well continuing to play for club and country.

 

An interesting prospect for the Philippines is 16 y/o Giann Magno who plays for the Derby County FC's 18 y/o youth team as a central midfielder and is a first year scholar fpr the Championship club playing as a central midfielder. He is also an amateur boxer in England and was born in Butuan City, Philippines. Here is a youtube of one of his fights.

 

Happy New Year!

Stephan Schrock joins Ceres FC

http://www.facebook.com/cereslasalle/photos/a.286157474799272.66511.124935764254778/916651178416562/?type=3

 

I am not sure how long Schrock will be playing in the Philippines(as of now according to reports, he is only on loan from 2Bundesliga team Greuther Furth until August) but the fact that a former Bundesliga player will be playing in the ufl is fantastic news for local football. More and more of the European based players are moving locally which will make them available for all the Azkals games including the Suzuki Cup at the end of the year.

Ceres is really loaded with all the national team players they have brought from abroad which will help them become competitive in the upcoming AFC Cup.

 

Newly signed Fil German national team players Stephan Schrock and Kevin Ingreso with Ceres FC.

 

Stephan Schrock hopes move from Germany to Manila will help Azkals

Stephan Schrock play for Germany national youth teams before making his Azkals' debut in 2011.

More than a few eyebrows were raised earlier this month when it was announced that Philippines' international Stephan Schrock was moving from European football to the Philippines, joining league champions Ceres La Salle FC, on loan from Germany's SpVgg Greuther Fürth.

After all, the 29-year-old Schrock is still at the peak of his footballing career. Heading to Manila -- where playing standards arguably lag behind some Southeast Asian counterparts -- might seem a step backwards for the former Eintracht Frankfurt and TSG Hoffenheim midfielder.

So why did Stephan Markus Cabizares Schrock make the move, at club level, to the Philippines?

"It was always been a dream for me," Germany-born Schrock told ESPN FC. "I had some ideas, like at the end of my career that I would love to play in the UFL or in the Philippines. That moment came a little bit earlier so I'm happy that it happened.

"I had some offers from Germany as well as Thailand and the Middle East, but I was talking to my wife and she said 'If you're leaving the country (Germany), why don't you go to the Philippines?' So here I am."

UFL fans are naturally ecstatic about his arrival. Prior to his arrival, they would only see 'Schrocky' in action during Azkals' games. Now they get to see him almost every week for Ceres in the league and the cup.

Some observers, however, question the wisdom of his loan move. Coming over from Germany's 2.Bundesliga to play for the Azkals, Schrock always showed quality that is a notch above everybody else on the field.


Schrock was promoted to Azkals' captain last year in the 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign.
Would that same quality be diminished now that he is playing in the UFL? He doesn't think so.

"Look, I'm not comparing myself to Cristiano Ronaldo or to Lionel Messi, but do you see anyone of the level of Cristiano Ronaldo or Messi playing in La Liga?

"There's no one.

"I don't think that their level dropped or went down because they played against weaker teams or players in La Liga."

Schrock disagrees that his move to the Philippines is a downgrade for him.

"I don't think that's a step down for me," he said. "I always respect every opponent we have. All the other teams, they can play football as well, so why should it be a step down?

"The Philippines and Philippine-based players play a different style of football. Not a weaker one, not a better one than in Germany, but it's different. So for me it's a good experience here and I will surely learn a lot of things here as well."

One thing is for sure, Schrock's move will benefit the Azkals, at least in the short term.


Philippines will take on Uzbekistan and North Korea in March.
With the Philippines slated to play AFC World Cup qualifiers against group leaders Uzbekistan and North Korea in March, a properly acclimatised Stephan Schrock, bereft of jet lag, will be a boost for coach Thomas Dooley.

"I know it can only help the team," he said.

For Ceres La Salle, who are also participating in the AFC Cup, the addition of Schrock to a lineup already brimming with talent certainly improves their chances of progressing from the group stages.

Just last month, the prospect of Schrock playing in the UFL was no more than a pipe dream. But now, he is here in Manila.

How will his move affect Philippine football and his career? We should know within the next six months, based on the Azkals' international results and Ceres La Salle's progress in the AFC Cup.

http://www.espnfc.com/blog/football...n-schrock-moves-to-manila-to-help-philippines

 

Apparently Greuther Furth will be paying Schrock 70% of his salary during the loan period while Ceres FC covers the rest.

 

Makes you wonder why they wanted to shop him in the first place or are they just really nice and listening to their player?

 

Schrock has been with Greuther Furth since his junior days, has done everything his club has asked of him playing almost every position on the team, has demonstrated his loyalty to the club in the past and has always been a fan favorite. They are probably rewarding him by letting him decide where to go instead of sending him to another club to showcase him for potential buyers.

 

With the UFL strictly complying with AFC rules requiring a limit of 4 foreigners in the lineup on game day this season, there has been a trend to bringing national team and other dual citizen players from abroad to the league as well as giving more exposure to the home grown players.

"After a hiatus of more than half a year, Philippines domestic football returns with a bang as the UFL Cup kicks off on Saturday at the storied Rizal Memorial Football Stadium in Manila.

Twelve teams will compete for the UFL Cup, with the winners earning a playoff spot in the 2017 AFC Cup. Defending champions Kaya FC, league champions Ceres La Salle and perennial contenders Global, Loyola Meralco Sparks and Stallion are among those set to contest the first piece of silverware this year.

Division one teams Green Archers United and JP Voltes look to spring a surprise, while Laos, Forza, Agila, Pasargad and Nomads hope to make a mark in the group stages of the competition.

UFL General Manager Rely San Agustin says there are many reasons to be excited about the new season.

"We expect competition to be tougher and more competitive as all 12 clubs have only one goal in mind: to win and earn those AFC slots," he said.

"With more national team players from abroad taking their talents to the UFL, getting to the top won't be easy. It will be a close one and the fans will surely not want to miss this."

http://www.espnfc.com/blog/football...greatwich-to-inspire-kaya-as-coach-in-ufl-cup