well, lots of posts to be replied. this is gonna be a very long post
anyway, twas a weekend and i'm not on my armchair coach seat
how i wish everyone posts like narko and other technical posters
they know who they are (solid technical arguments) instead of general motherhood statements (cohesion, chemistry, etc...)
now for the outstanding points on hand
on naturalization:there was this inquirer.net interview on Weiss but I think it succumb to "link rot". Anyway, here's a general version from FilipinoFootball of jonny
filipinofootball.blogspot.com/2011/02/azkals-coach-says-no-to-superstars.htmlin it, he states that he is not inclined to recruit a naturalized player since it will not work? how does he know it will not work?
remember, the El-Habib's applied for the honor even before nobody bothered to join the national football team except those locals who have "kapits" to the powers-that-be from the PFF and other Fil-Fors that truly believe that the AzKals had a future and that they would even spend their own money just to get to the Philippines to play.
the El-Habib's were not recruited, they volunteer to be a part of the team. in fact, they are more Filipino than some of the current AzKal roster. they have been here in the Philippines for a long time, studied, grow-up in their formative years, assimilated to the Filipino culture and in effect indoctrinated to the norms of being a Filipino.
is it not unfair for them that after doing the legwork to get the necessary papers, a person would tell you that you cannot play because with you on the team it will not work? how would you feel if you would go to the US, get naturalized, about to be hired for a job and suddenly, a new management takes-over and outright tells you that
"with you in the company it will not work because you would disrupt the chemistry of the company/workers because you are not a true American but a foreigner"?
again, remember, during Weiss pronouncement, we had no other candidate for naturalization but the El-Habibs. so his pronouncement is a direct reference to them.
okay, since this forum is very sensitive about the R word, I will leave it to the readers how would they call it. the mods here wouldn't even approve calling that disgusting former NT coach named Norman Fegidero by that term even if his hand as termed by feinduno "was caught in the cookie jar".
On those motherhood statements:are we going on a path towards football's philosophical nirvana? players dancing on the pitch with artistic perfection to the beat and rhythm of the supporters chants and shouts?
are they thinking of making a Smart-Gilas squad for football
which even after three years of supposed cohesion and chemistry coupled with a big naturalized player still resorted to players from an entity that were supposed to be a non-part of the project? and guess who saved their asses from another humiliating finish? it was the pros that were inserted in less than two weeks before the major qualifying tournament.
in NT football, cohesion and chemistry is always a problem. why did Spain insists on using as much as possible Barca players even though a more talented player exists and let others adopt to the Barca system?
the German NT is not a product of players always playing together but by a more encompassing system directed by their national football association (DFB). all clubs in the Bundesliga needs to implement a certain sets of strategic concepts so that their players if ever they are good and called to the NT, knows the system and no more need for gelling, cohesiveness thingamajigz.
anybody seen the latest Brazil-Costa Rica match? i wonder what would have been the scoreline if the coach of Costa Rica uses Weiss strategy ;D and not much teamwork for Brazil there either. It was just an spectacular display of individual talent and guess who scored the lone goal?
those countries that relies on having a constant pool of players for NT financed by their national association(Singapore, Kuwait, Bahrain etc.) so that they would have club-like system and teamwork are for countries that are bereft of talent. it is one of the reasons why Singapore is like our local Smart-Gilas, even with the barrelful of money poured into the endeavor, it is still full of disappointment and dejection. yes, they are a force to be reckoned with in their region but on a tournament that really matters, they would always end up short(figuratively and literally).
does Brazil, Netherlands, and other powerhouse South American teams maintain a squad like Gilas and Singapore? Go figure ;D
on Narko's points:the composition and characteristics of Singapore and Phil NT is a given. everyone knows the score. we should play to our strong points. as I said above, dreaming of fluid attacking football is beyond our reach for the next unknown years. we don't even have a decent local league and dreaming for such style is hogwash. we should have practiced turtling since January of this year. Copy Rehaggel, Pulis or Mourinho's playbook. if we have practiced such mentality, we would not have the problem faced by Weiss against Singapore and even against Kuwait. Even Manchester United would turtle up(relatively) when facing teams like Barcelona. Attacking needs a lot of talent and teamwork while defending though teamwork and talent are a great force multipliers, needs only comprehension, average talent and some sort of brutishness.
Subbing Araneta for Guirado
it's like giving Singapore the "partida" and playing with 10 men. Araneta doesn't offer anything to the team except liabilities. Subbing in Gener would have been better and letting Cagara go rampant through the left flank.
As I was saying on my earlier post, their leftback Shaiful is an accurate set piece taker. a good coach would have seen it and be ready for it. whether it was lucky deflection or not, the end result is a goal and the product of a well executed set piece. why is that the trajectory of the ball was such against the mass of the players in front of the goal while PYH shots goes straight to the keeper's arm even though it was near 1 on 1?
Subbing characteristics in the game against Macau/HongKong compared to the game against Singapore is like the difference of noticing a pea or a bowling ball under your bedsheets.
And no, Caligdong doesn't cut it against strong opponents(Singapore-level ASEAN teams).
The second goal was addressed by my point above. Full attacking mode and going for broke will not work with the current quality of our defenders unless they can find a set of defenders on the level of Pique/Puyol/Abidal qualities. See Arsenal for a symptom of such deficiency.
And lastly, i beg to disagree on the proposition that the AzKal coaching staff is learning. The mistakes and lapses they've committed since their match against Mongolia are still the same and no sign of improving. It is just mitigated by the appearance of more talented players.
So I will
just also have to disagree regarding what the coach could have done in that game. The SG coach came into that game with the advantage of having a settled team and system in place, experienced players and a deep bench. Our coach or maybe also the entire coaching staff are on an LSD trip towards football attacking paradise and with the conviction that our players are sufficient to achieve that dream.
PS:
this thread is really about spilled milk so that whenever we would be on the same situation, we will not spill it once again.