The Little Team That Could: How Arellano Ruled NCAA FootballThe unfancied, unfashionable Arellano Chiefs ended San Beda's dynasty with an unorthodox, old-school approach.Bob Guerrero
Published 10:08 AM, January 20, 2016
Updated 5:33 PM, January 20, 2016
MANILA, Philippines – Arellano University's football coach, Ravelo Saluria, is just minutes removed from his team's 2-0 championship game victory against San Beda last Tuesday, January 19, in Rizal Memorial. His jubilant players have just poured a giant jug of ice and water over his head – not a bad idea since the match kicked off a quarter of an hour before noon on a warm day. The veteran mentor from Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo reminisces about how tough things were for his team.
“Ang San Beda may mga maling na coaches, kami naman may mga mahal na cones,” he recounts with a smile.
(San Beda has the good coaches, we have the expensive cones.)
Saluria reveals that the team often trains in the parking lot/quadrangle of the Arellano campus, oftentimes when cars were still parked in it. Players had to slalom around idle Toyotas and Mazdas to hone their skills.
Such are the issues that this plucky team had to weather enroute to the NCAA Season 91 title, their first in history. The title meant San Beda's dominance of the league's seniors football competition ended at 5 straight championships.
They may not have the glitz and the glamor, the easy access to pitches, the cachet and the recruiting power. But what Arellano does have is the trophy. How they achieved it is one of the early feel-good stories of Pinoy football in 2016.
Everything about this team seems to be throwback, starting with their veteran coach, who, unlike the staff of San Beda, has no coaching license, not even a basic “C” badge. Saluria only has his years of experience playing for Army and leading Philippine Christian University to 3 straight titles at the turn of the millennium. (He is also a former FIFA referee.) The assistant is Ravelo's brother Judy, who former Philippine national team coach Juan Cutillas says was one of the best defenders the country ever produced.
The goalkeeper is Jericho Desalisa, the tallest on the team at 6 foot-plus. He's a bit of an old-schooler himself, preferring to stay home near his line instead of venture out like many modern keepers. He even drop-kicks his clearances.
Their back 4 formation also looks like it's been yanked out of a trunk in the attic. Most teams use a flat back 4 with the two centerbacks side-by-side. But Saluria deploys rookie Patrick Bernarte as the sweeper, anywhere from 5 to 10 meters behind the stopper (the more advanced centerback), Jerome Banasihan.
Saluria says the scheme is ideal for undersized teams, with Bernarte serving as a “space marker,” as he calls it when the stopper ahead is unable to squelch the attack. The scheme leaves two huge triangles of space on either side of the defense for the opponents to exploit, but somehow the Chiefs succeed with this scheme.
Bernarte is slight of build and of stature, nothing like the behemoth centerbacks of other teams. But Saluria saw something in him to convert him from the wing, where he played on Arellano's high school team, to the heart of the defense. The youngster won the league's Best Defender award, so obviously it was one change that bore fruit.
It's in attack that Arellano are both pragmatic and exciting to watch. Robert Corsame, who mans the top of their 442 formation alongside Charles Gamutan, says that they like to practice long ball tactics because its what suits them.
They used that strategy to great effect in the lead up to the final match. Corsame set up Jumbel Guinabang for a score last week against Benilde with a magnificent long diagonal.
Arellano swept the first round, and then during the Christmas break, in between the two rounds, used their secret weapon to stay in shape.
Although Arellano previously trained on their parking lot, last year the school let them use an open field in Lagro, Fairview, owned by the university, to train. Over the Christmas holidays, after the first round and before the second, the Chiefs practiced at the venue that may have been lacking grass in spots but was at least big enough for a serious football team.
(Article intentionally cut, to read more go to: www.rappler.com/sports/by-sport/football/119614-how-arellano-ruled-ncaa-football)