John Burridge on Philippines Soccer Growth

Posted on by index

John Burridge reckons basketball is the real hindrance in the growth of soccer in Philippines


Burridge says the Filipinos bother very little about any sport other than basketball. Everyone is into Basketball and with everyone’s attention on that one sport only, the potential in other sports especially the Footballing potential which the country has got more than any of its neighbouring countries is going a waste as most of it is left undeveloped.

As per Burridge, Soccer does not come even on no. 2 among favourite sports in Philippines and apart from basketball; the next sport that the Filipinos take interest in is boxing

Burridge reveals that the soccer knowledge of the Filipinos is such that hardly anyone of them has any idea about Diego Maradona and when he mentions the name Maradona to them, they ask if he was talking about the singer Madonna or what.
Continue reading “John Burridge on Philippines Soccer Growth” →

Thomas Dooley of Philippines talks about the 2016 AFF Suzuki Cup

Posted on by index

Thomas Dooley is the head coach of the Philippines national football team and he has recently voiced his thoughts about the upcoming 2016 edition of the 2016 AFF Suzuki Cup which is scheduled to kick-off on November 19 and conclude on December 17 of the ongoing year.


The Philippines national football team has consistently struggled on making it past the group stages. From 1996 until 2007, Philippines never managed to make it past the group rounds of the competition but in the following years they have been able to reach the semi-finals but that is the furthest that Philippines has ever reached.

Thailand are the current champions of the AFF Suzuki Cup and are the favorites of defending it as well. The Thailand national side has won this competition on 4 occasions which is the highest amount of times for any team along with Singapore who has also lift the title 4 times.

In the 2016 AFF Suzuki Cup, Philippines was pitted in the same group as Thailand and the head coach of the Philippines national side has talked about what it’s like of being placed with the current champions as well as with Singapore and Indonesia.
Continue reading “Thomas Dooley of Philippines talks about the 2016 AFF Suzuki Cup” →

The Young Philippines Soccer Player Gets Into The National Team

Posted on by index

The Philippines has some talented soccer players and Trinity Wambolt is one of them. She was recently at Lasso where she played with the youth soccer team on behalf of the Philippines.

It was part of the regional champions for the Asian Football Confederation. Even though she hails from Mississauga, her mother being a native of the Philippines has allowed her to play and represent this country. She is a young player with talent and promise, a reason that she was selected to be part of the under 14 team that has played in the Asian Confederation games in Laos.

She was definitely thrilled with the opportunity that she was given. It is definitely the dream of any young player to move on to national teams and that the opportunity would be given to her so early was beyond her expectations. She had helped her team win silver in the tournament that encompassed eight teams. She stated that initial days were hard as most people missed their homes, but that also built the closeness of the team and helped them to win the match. Even though the practices were grueling it was a good experience for her. Continue reading “The Young Philippines Soccer Player Gets Into The National Team” →

Philippines soccer on the rise

Posted on by index

Philippines soccer has been improving steadily in recent times both at a club and international level.


This is evidenced by the results that Philippines club get in the continental cup competition as well as the national soccer team.

Two Phillippines soccer club Ceres and Kaya FC are currently doing well in the AFC Cup where they have the possibility to make it to the last 16 of the tournament. When you know that last year they were performing poorly in the same competition, you will clearly understand that there has been some progress that took place.

Similarly, the national team has steadily been improving. They are now ranked 115th in the world which is the highest rank they have achieved in the FIFA ranking. Just 10 years ago they were 191st in the ranking.

The progress in Phillippines soccer did not come magically since it took some work to get there. The foundation was laid on by German coach Michael Weiss, and they have keep improving under their current coach Dooley. Continue reading “Philippines soccer on the rise” →

PHILIPPINE SOCCER TEAM MOVE UP IN FIFA RANKING

Posted on by index

The Philippine men national team nicknamed Azkals moved up FIFA ranking from the previous 135th position to the current 116th in the world. In the comparison for Asian countries, Philippine soccer team were placed 16th overall in the Asian Football confederation.

The Iranian national team received a huge profile leap after being ranked 1st in the Asian Football Confederation and 42nd in the full list by FIFA.

The Azkals recently finished third in the group H world cup qualifying campaign. This is believed to be one of the reasons for the huge leap by the Philippine national team. The team also had an historic 3-2 win over tough opponents North Korea but lost the chance to play at the world cup finals. Despite the loss, the team will advance to the third round of the 2019 Asian Football Confederation cup.

Aside Iran in first place in the Asian ranking, Australia are in second place, Korea Republic next in line before Japan, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan and United Arab Emirates respectively. China Republic, Jordan and Qatar completed the top ten list in Asia. Continue reading “PHILIPPINE SOCCER TEAM MOVE UP IN FIFA RANKING” →

Sweden was pitted in a tough group for the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifications

Posted on by index

The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification draw results has already been announced and some nations were lucky while some others did not have such a pleasant placing and Sweden is one of the unfortunate ones as the Sweden nation was placed in what is considered to be the toughest group as they have to play against the likes of: France, Bulgaria, Belarus, Luxembourg and Netherlands.

Group A is already being labeled as the group of death due to the amount of top class nations and Sweden has their work cut out if they want to advance into the next World Cup.

Before having any hopes of qualifying to the 2018 World Cup, Sweden has to focus in advancing through the 2016 Euro’s and so far they have managed to hold their ground and are located in the 2nd spot of Group G with 12 points having been gathered from the 6 matches which have been played so far at this point in time.

One of the issues that the Sweden national side might face is the fact that the team of Erik Hamrén is starting to build a dependency on ZlatanIbrahimovic and this is evident by the amount of goals that Sweden has been scoring in their past few matches. Continue reading “Sweden was pitted in a tough group for the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifications” →

Fabio Cannavaro has revealed that the process of qualifying for the World Cup

Posted on by index

Former Italy defender Fabio Cannavaro has revealed that the process of qualifying for the World Cup will always be difficult and this is especially true in the case of the European teams for the 2018 edition.

The former Real Madrid and Juventus star was recently part of the qualification ceremony for the upcoming tournament. Group stages have been announced for the qualification phases. Cannavaro is one of the experienced players to be able to talk about qualification for this tournament. After all, he has managed to feature in four world cups in his stellar career. There was a crowning moment when he led the team to success in the 2006 edition.

Cannavaro says that he is not worried about other teams failing to make it into the tournament as long as Italy reach the finals. The future of the Italian national team continues to be under doubt. After being knocked out at the two stages in the last World Cup, they were expected to perform well under the regime of Antonio Conte. However, the former Juventus manager is yet to imprint his stamp on the team. Italy have been given a tough group for qualification, as they will be alongside 2010 World champions Spain. Continue reading “Fabio Cannavaro has revealed that the process of qualifying for the World Cup” →

Senators of the United States do not want Russia to host the 2018 World Cup

Posted on by index

A few days ago it was confirmed and revealed to the public that 13 U.S senators have asked the international soccer organization FIFA to start considering another country instead of Russia as the host for the upcoming 2018 World Cup.

One of the main reasons of why these senators do not want Russia to host the forthcoming competition is because of the ‘’ ongoing violations of the territorial integrity of Ukraine’’.

There were a number of lawmakers hailing from U.S. which are saying that allowing the 2018 World Cup to take place will inappropriately bolster the prestige of Vladimir Putin when it should be condemned instead of improved.

These lawmakers include: The Wisconsin Republican Ron Johnson, the Illinois Democrat Richard Durbin and the Arizona Republican John McCain. All of them have told the former FIFA president Sepp Blatter to start considering using another country as host instead of Russia as it’s simply not the ideal location according to them. Continue reading “Senators of the United States do not want Russia to host the 2018 World Cup” →