Tears, cheers for Filipino booters

It was a rollercoaster year for Philippine football in 2024, full of monumental milestones, bittersweet farewells, and seismic shifts in management that reshaped the landscape of the sport.

History was made on the pitch, but it also showed the challenges of pursuing progress in the beautiful game.

The Philippine national men’s football team began the year with a changeover in January.

Team manager Dan Palami stepped down. He has been responsible for the year-to-year growth and development of the team to this point in time.

His exit heralded a series of transitional changes in management in a little over a year.

By 26 February, the Belgian tactician Tom Saintfiet came into the team for this change in hopes to develop a better squad and boost chances in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign’s second round.

He resigned on 29 August after the bottom spot of the group due to their 0-1-5 win-draw-loss record in finishing off the second round of qualifiers.

Enter Spanish coach Albert Capellas, former head coach of FC Barcelona B, who was announced to replace Saintfiet last 10 September.

Even if only given months to prepare for the ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup playing without Filipino-German winger Gerrit Holtmann in the tournament, the Nationals made it back to the semifinals after six years, having ended second in Group B, undefeated behind a 1-3-0 win-draw-loss record due to his possession-style of play.

It was also during Capellas’ term when the Philippines managed to give defending champion Thailand a surprising 2-1 sendoff in the first leg of the semifinals last Friday at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.

It was also the first time for the Philippines to emerge victorious against the War Elephants since 1972.

At press time, the Philippines is facing Thailand at the Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok as it tries to book a slot in the final.

Regardless of what happens, this Mitsubishi Electric Cup might be the spark that Filipinos need to compete in Asia.

While the men’s team had its level of success, the Filipinas suffered major bumps in 2024.

For one, their chief backer Jefferson Cheng stepped down as team manager last March because of unworkable conditions under Philippine Football Federation president John Anthony Gutierrez.

“For several months, we tried our best to make things work under new and very different circumstances. Unfortunately, the situation is not workable,” Cheng said.