James, Phil in spotlight

Siblings Phil and James Younghusband go at it one last time in the third and final installment of the Clear Dream Match – the biggest all-star game in the Philippines – tomorrow at the University of Makati field with Manchester United legends Paul Scholes and Andy Cole helping the brothers settle the score.

The Younghusbands split the first two editions of the event sponsored by Clear, with Phil’s team scoring a 5-2 victory in the inaugural edition and James’ squad getting back with a 4-1 triumph last year, making this year’s duel an exciting race to the finish.

Fans helped the Phil and James’ respective teams get first pick of the legends by scoring points for either teams online. Phil won the final online points tally, thanks to his active and digitally engaged fans, allowing him to pick Scholes to be part of the Team Phil contingent in the event backed by Fairmont, PLDT Fibr, Adidas, Chris Sports, Gatorade, Greenwich, The Camp, Jaguar, Mint and Sprinto.

Cole went to Team James.

“It will be my first time, and I’m excited to see the young new talent in Asia,” said Scholes, an 11-time Premier League winner. “It’s always a great experience to visit a country where football is a growing sport.”

Cited as one of the best midfielders of his generation, Scholes has made over 700 appearances for Manchester United and has the third-highest number of appearances by any player for the club. He has also played a key part in the club’s Treble-winning success in the 1998–99 season.

James was excited to welcome Cole on board. “It will be great to have Cole on the team. Team James wants to score several goals, and having the second highest goal scorer in English Premier League history on your team is such a huge asset,” he said.

source: mb.com.ph

PH Azkals rise in latest Fifa rankings

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine Azkals, fresh off their AFC Challenge Cup stint where they almost won it all, jumped 11 places in the latest Fifa rankings released Thursday.

The Azkals moved to 129th from 140th just nearly a week ago after dropping a heartbreaking 0-1 setback to Palestine in the finals.

Moving forward, the Azkals now set their sights on the AFF Suzuki Cup, which will be held late this year.

Move to recruit more Azkals pushed

MALE’ – Looking forward to bigger forays in the future, the Philippine Azkals will continue scouting for talents all over the world and widening the pool for the national team.

“We’ll have to expand even further our scouting activities just to check whether there are still Filipinos out there,” said team manager Dan Palami.

The Azkals were gunning for a finals berth in the AFC Challenge Cup against host Maldives at presstime. Their ultimate objective is to win the Challenge Cup and make a historic qualification to the prestigious AFC Asian Cup next year.

The Asean Football Federation Suzuki Cup later in the year is also in the Azkals’ slate.

Palami, though, declined to name the prospective recruits from overseas yet.

Although the big guns from Europe play key roles in the team, Palami noted that they are gradually achieving balance between local-based mainstays and their counterparts from abroad.

“It’s getting there,” Palami said, noting that seven Phl-based players had actually seen action in the crucial group match against Turkmenistan last Saturday.

“Of course we need to find balance between local-based and whoever’s coming over. It’s always been a difficult process and everybody knows that eveything we’re doing will always be geared towards being a successful team,” he said.

According to Palami, the broad plan is to put up a strong pool in Phl and bring in the Fil-Europeans or hold more overseas training with the latter.

“That’s what the coach and I will have to talk about. Do we try to create a strong team based in Manila and just see who among the players outside can reinforce it or do we send them most of the time outside doing camps, getting everybody together? Those are the things we’ll decide upon after the Challenge Cup,” he said.


source: www.abs-cbnnews.com