HOORAY TO PHIL'S WOMEN'S SOCCER TEAM!!

okay...i know that i promised to stay away from the com until the 21st, but because i had broken another part of my "resolution" i feel strongly obliged to blog, for doing otherwise would be an injustice to my being, as well as the heroic performance i jus witnessed by an extremely impressive philippines women soccer team.

allow me to elaborate: yes, the other part of my resolution i "broke" was heading over to the bishan stadium to catch an international friendly between our own n the philippines' women's soccer team. yar, i couldnt resist being able to catch a "live" match, even though it is played by women. (okay, i noe im gonna be crucified for having such a biased stereotypical, chauvinistic mindset, but that was before i actually watched the match..)

unlike for the usual s-league matches i watch, there were no tickets to be bought..admission was free..n i soon found out why...the stadium was practically empty...there were probably more players on the field than in the stands supporting..seriously! but later on a few late comers arrived n the number doubled, but still there couldnt have been more than 50 supporters occupying the 2000+ seater stadium (that includes hardcore s-league watchers - excluding myself - who probably spend most of their time either playing or watching their boyfriends play soccer yea, u noe the kinda ppl im tokkin abt, a couple of old uncles who've retired n dont need to work, n the occasional couple who probably jus came to soak in the "ambience") yup, pretty pathetic huh? :p

yea, so there i was...sitting all alone in the "away" stands, watching the team in red and white warming up..going thruogh their routines...it was rather intriguing watching the little pre-match kick-a-bout. i was quite impressed by some of the players' ball control n one o two even stunned me with the shot power they could muster from their tiny frames. they looked rather young, from where i was sitting...probably averaging 18, 19...maybe 21, 23 at most..

then, this old guy approached me where i was and told me i was watching the philippines' team! chey..n i was beginning to think how some of "our" players actually seemed to be able to play the game! haha! and turns out it was actually the visiting team! so i glanced over to the other end of the pitch..there, at one glance i could clearly see that our singapore players were obviously older, n hence taller n bigger than their philippine counterparts. however, jus watching them a couple of minutes, i noted a couple of stark contrasts btw the two teams.

firstly, unlike the singapore team, where everyone seemed to be doing their own thing, stretching alone or taking pot-shots at an empty goal, their opponents were having a much more organised n coordinated warm up session, where everyone was participating - even the subs n goalkeepers. no one was jus sitting around or slacking around..already this was an indication of the gulf btw the standards n structure of the way both teams were run.

okay...i'll admit that the fact that some of the players from the philippines were rather good looking contributed to the fact that i payed more attention to them than to our local team :p but seriously, which normal 18 yr old guy would rather watch a couple of 28 - 30+ yr old women, some of them who seemed to have testosterone pulsating thru their veins instead of a group of gals (who actually look like gals...one or two possibly even 15, 16 yr olds --> their ponytails were definitely more easing on the eye than the gelled, n even spiked, dyed hair of our local players)

when the match started, we didnt have to wait long to the first goal. with singapore's first attack, a surge down the flanks led to a corner, a subsequent goalmouth scramble n then suddenly..the ball was in the back of the net! okay..a lucky goal..a lucky scrappy goal, but like they say, they all count. so yea, 1-0 to singapore.

but from then on, the philippines really dominated the match. despite their very apparent size, n hence height n strength, disadvantage, the girls in red n white were much quicker n composed on the ball as compared to our local women. while the singapore team resorted to the usual ineffective longball tactic, the philippines gals actually showed some ball skills, with one or two dribbles n side-steps to evade a massive lunging body...it was really impressive play from the philippines. the passed the ball around our players with fluency n composure, unlike the singaporeans who acted as tho the ball was a hot potato..either punting the ball aimlessly upfield or simply getting robbed by the much quicker, nimbler gals, on the occasions they did try to hold on to possesion. the gals created most of the chances, n were really unlucky not to score. finally, on the stroke of halftime, a handball in the penatly box gave them their well-deserved equaliser.

ironically, it was another handball in the penalty box which decided the match. altouogh singapore won by the narrowest of margins, in my heart i knew tt there was only one winner that evening, and it wasnt singapore. the girls from the philippines put up a brave performance, with more than one of them unfortunate to be on the receiving end of late crunching challenges, which really the aggressors should have at least been yellow carded for. at least on three occasions the stretcher had to be brought on to carry off a player in red n white, and with each one my heart only went out to the team even more, n i really hoped that they would get the result they deserver for their efforts..sadly it was not to be.

however, i was so inspired by the performance that i actually did a strange thing after the match ended..i actually walked up to one of the coaches of the philippines team after the match to offer my congratulations, n i told him how proud i was by his country's performance. yea, i did that..n he thanked me and added that the team had only just played a tournament in malaysia 2 days ago..which also involved indonesia, malaysia, n eventual winners, thailand. the philippines had finished second only to the favourites, the"tom-yam queens" ...which made me realise even more how amazing their performance was.

oh yes, i forgot to mention this earlier, but another thing that caught my attention, was the fact that before the match, during the pre-game pep-talk..the whole team bowed their heads in prayer, n made the sign-of-the-cross as well after the prayer, as a team. it was a really touching sight... i take my hat off to you, philipppines! you've got a really talented team of players, and im looking forward to learning more about your local culture. of course, im especially looking forward to the mission trip as well..cant wait!! =)

raneth hopped off at 9:57 pm