Phil Younghusband wants to have a future with Angel Locsin

Celebrity footballer Phil Younghusband would rather not put any label to his relationship with actress Angel Locsin. What’s important, he said, is that they’re enjoying each others’ company right now.

“For us, the status or what you call the relationship, doesn’t matter to us. We’re just very, very happy … I try to spend time with Angel as much as possible,” Phil told the entertainment press in a recent press con that launched him and elder brother James as football ambassadors for AKTV—TV5’s sports block on IBC-13.

In their three-year contract, the brothers will be hosting short instructional football videos, drills and lifestyle tips, which will be aired in between AKTV programs. The deal also serves as an opportunity for them to further inspire the youth to take up the sport—an advocacy they’ve been pursuing since 2009 via the Younghusband Football Academy.

Very caring

Phil, who described Angel as “one of the most amazing people” he has ever met, said that despite being together for months now, each day still feels like it’s their first.

“She teaches me Tagalog … Tagalog songs, things like that. I learn a lot from Angel. She’s very down-to- earth. She’s human … very caring,” said the soft-spoken Azkal forward and Loyola Meralco Sparks Futbol Club midfielder.

But the couple’s relationship is not all fun and games, Phil stressed. “I’m serious about Angel and I want to have a future with her.”

Phil also looks forward to see fans cheering for the Azkals in their coming friendly match against international football superstar David Beckham and the LA Galaxy team on Dec. 3.

Asked if he and Angel have tried playing football together, Phil smiled and said, “I hope to teach her in the future, but marami siyang ginagawa. She’s busy … with a new movie coming up. When we have time, I’d love to teach her.”

Poster boy

Although football is Phil’s priority, the 23-year-old athlete said he’s not closing his doors on the prospect of joining show biz. But at the moment, acting is out of the equation. However, Phil doesn’t mind doing photo shoots for magazines and endorsements once in a while—although he finds these things more tiring than playing football.

He also enjoys the glamour of being one of the poster boys of the local football scene.

“Yeah, it’s always good to drive down Edsa and see your billboard,” he said, laughing. “And to know that you’re promoting football at the same time is good. Obviously, one of my heroes is David Beckham, and to see me doing the same thing he does is great.”

What Phil doesn’t appreciate, however, are the random and sometimes bizarre rumors that seem to come out of nowhere. “Sometimes I hear things and I’m like, ‘Where did that come from? How did you even think of that?’ It’s all new to me,” he said.

source: http://entertainment.inquirer.net

P1-M Rizal Memorial Football Stadium

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine Sports Commission is charging P1 million for the rental of the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium for the coming friendly between the PH team Azkals and the David Beckham-starred Los Angeles Galaxy.

PSC marketing chief Albert Almendralejo said last night that the amount is the standard rental fee for the use of the venue for two days, including the actual match on Dec. 3 which will be held at night.

“They will need lights during the game and they will use it the whole day on the first day because of the clinic and again during the game itself,” said Almendralejo.

He said there was no rental fee during the Azkals World Cup qualifiers against Sri Lanka and Kuwait and the friendly against Nepal since the government agency was in close coordination with the Philippine Football Federation, main organizer of the events.

According to Almendralejo, the rental fee is a standard rate and the PSC asking for three percent of total ticket allocations an SOP.

The match is reportedly selling tickets from P2,000 to P15,500.

Source: sports.inquirer.net

Azkals-Galaxy tickets go on sale Thursday

MANILA, Philippines - Tickets for the friendly match between the Philippine Azkals and major league soccer (MLS) club Los Angeles Galaxy will go on sale starting Thursday afternoon.

Tickets are priced at: P2,000, P5,000, P9,500, P10,500, P12, 500 and P15,500.

The game will be held on December 3 at the Rizal Memorial Stadium and will be televised live on Studio 23 and BALLS HD.

The Galaxy will also hold an open practice on December 2 from 9 am to 11 am, with tickets for grandstand seats prized at P3,000, while bleachers seats will go for P1,500.

They will also hold a football clinic for children, which will cost P14,000 inclusive of an LA Galaxy event jersey, shorts, and a soccer bag. The clinic will be held from 2pm to 4 pm.

Both the open practice and the football clinic will be held at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.

The friendly match will feature Galaxy stars such as David Beckham, Robbie Keane, and Landon Donovan going up against the Philippine national football team.

source: abs-cbnnews.com

Azkals U-23s taking it one game at a time

JAKARTA, Indonesia - It's been 2 days since the under-23 Philippine football team suffered their 2nd defeat at the 26th Southeast As

ian (SEA) Games.
They had a rest day on Tuesday and are back on the pitch practicing Wednesday, 2 days before their next match against Laos.

Have the young Azkals gotten their bearings back and ready to make a miracle run to qualify for the semifinals?

Coach Hans Michael Weiss says the key is to take things one match a time rather than to look at the daunting task of having to win the remaining 3 matches and hope for miracles against the leading teams in their bracket like Timor Leste and Vietnam.

In an ironic way, the 2 losses have sort of lifted some pressure off the shoulders of the young Azkals, 15 of whom will still be eligible for the 2013 SEA Games.

Weiss adds that they must now really focus on defense and take note of their lapses versus Timor Leste and Vietnam that virtually broke their backs.
Laos is next up for the U-23 Philippine Football team set on November 11, 4 p.m. Jakarta time.

Familiar face
Meanwhile, a familiar face in Philippine Football is now on the sidelines for the first time as an assistant coach.

Veteran national team member Yanti Bersales, who retired after the Myanmar match in June, is part of the coaching staff in Jakarta.

From what he's seen, he hopes the boys learn to loosen up and relieve themselves of the unnecessary pressure on them.

He says they should value this experience and exposure they are getting at such a young age.

As for bouncing back, Bersales says they have to forget what happened in the last 2 matches and simply look forward to their next opponent, Laos.

It’s as simple as that.

So far Bersales’ presence and veteran advice has been a welcome addition to the staff handling the very young team.

source: abs-cbnnews.com

Azkals teeter on the brink

MANILA, Philippines - What was supposed to be a day of rebound became another moment of frustration for the Philippine under-23 football team as it yielded a 1-2 setback to Timor Leste last night at the Lebak Bulus Stadium, its semifinal bid in the 26th Southeast Asian Games in serious jeopardy.

Hoping to bounce back against a supposedly lighter opponent four days after their heartbreaking 1-3 loss to Vietnam, the U-23 Azkals found themselves on the losing end for the second straight game, thrust into a “must-win-big” situation from hereon in to keep their slim medal aspirations alive.

The Filipinos will try to get a win against Laos on Friday in the same venue, then against Myanmar on Nov. 13, and against Brunei on Nov. 15, all the while keeping their fingers crossed that the Group B leaders won’t pile up the points from their end.

The Timorese, who opened their campaign with a 2-1 win over Brunei, enjoyed the provisional lead in the group with six points on two victories. Behind them were Vietnam and Myanmar with four points on one win and one draw at presstime.

Parading several tall, big, fast, and attack-minded players of Portuguese descent with experience in Australia and Portugal, Timor Leste pulled off the win despite the Filipinos getting a bigger chunk of possession (55 percent against 45 percent).

The Timorese had nine shots on goal against Phl’s four, one of which was completed and served as the dagger to the heart of the U-23 Azkals.

Diogo Rangel eluded Phl defender Patrick Hinrichsen then rolled the ball past Filipino custodian Roland Muller three minutes into the second half to break a 1-1 standoff, cranking up the pressure on the U-23 Azkals to try in vain to pile in the goals.

The Timorese got into the scoreboard 17 minutes into play when Murilo Robeiro de Almeida punished the Azkals for their poor marking off a counter attack. Almeida slotted it in off a delivery from Azwan Muhamad Saleh, giving Timor the lead and making his third goal in two games.

However, Phl’s Washington-based OJ Porteria, working off a pass from Jeff Christiaens, flicked it in 20 minutes later to knot the count, celebrating the goal with a dance routine with teammate Jason de Jong.

But the celebration was shortlived for the Filipinos.

Worse, the U23 Azkals will likely miss Fil-Spanish defender Carli de Murga in their next game as sanction for getting a yellow card in last night’s physical match, his second in the tournament.

source: philstar.com

Azkals medal hopes realistic

JAKARTA—The Azkals—though not necessarily the same batch that resurrected football in the Philippines—on Tuesday were the first group of Filipinos who arrived in this traffic-infested Indonesian capital for the 26th Southeast Asian Games.

And though finding newfound fame back home because of a series of sterling international performances, this Under-23 squad hopes to break through in these Games. That is to win for the Philippines its first football medal.

The famous Younghusbands, James and Phil, feared scorer Chieffy Caligdong and the indefatigable Aly Borromeo won’t be on this squad, but the Philippines probably has its best shot at going home with a medal.

“It’s doable, definitely,” team manager Dan Palami, the man chiefly responsible for that resurgence, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer moments after touching down after a nearly seven-hour trip from Manila to Singapore to here.

The Philippines’ best football finish in the biennial meet came in 1991, when the country hosted the Games in Manila. That squad went on to make the semifinals only to lose and settle for fourth place.

And if one would talk about the luck of the draw, then the Philippines had seemingly gotten one, and hopes to ride it all the way towards finishing in the money.

Bracketed with Myanmar, Timor-Leste, Laos, Vietnam and Brunei, the Philippines is in what coaching staff calls the “Group of Hope” as the other favorites, counting the host Indonesians, Singapore, Thailand and defending champion Malaysia are in the other. Cambodia is the fifth and last Group A member.

Only two groups make up the elimination round with the top two teams to advance to the crossover Final Four after a single round robin.

The Philippines faces Vietnam for its first match on Thursday.

Given that, the Filipinos, who will be reinforced by a number of Fil-foreign players, will play a total of five games and would need to top their group to draw the lightest possible assignment in the semifinals.

“We should realize that teams like Timor-Leste, Cambodia and Laos have actually built very good youth programs and the products of those programs are playing here,” said Palami.

The Azkals got a massive boost late Tuesday when Fil-German midfielder Manny Ott opted to join the team at the last minute, after earlier ruling himself out as he looks for a new club in Europe.

The Under-23 Azkals next play Timor-Leste on Nov. 7 at the Lebak Bulus Stadium before tangling with the Laotians on the 11th in the same pitch.

The rest of the 512-strong Philippine delegation makes its way to here and main venue Palembang province in the coming days.