Azkals take a break, visit Albay resort

By Cedelf P. TupasPhilippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA—After a grueling year that saw them reach the second round of the World Cup qualifying, the Philippine Azkals take a much-needed break as they visit a luxury island resort in Bacacay, Albay Monday.

Misibis Bay, located in Cagraray Island, was personally handpicked by the celebrated football team.

Joining the three-day holiday are Anton del Rosario, Nate Burkey, Roel Gener, Jason Sabio, Richard Pacana, Patrick Ace Bright, Paolo Pascual, Misagh Bahadoran, Josef Malinay, Ricardo Becite and Yannick Tuason.

The Azkals return to action in the Long Teng Cup starting Sept. 28 in Taiwan. The team will be a mix of the seniors team and the Under-23 squad preparing for the Indonesia Southeast Asian Games in November.

The Azkals advanced to the AFC Challenge Cup main tournament for the first time by overcoming Mongolia in pre-qualifying, before finishing second behind Palestine in the group qualifying in Myanmar last March.

The Azkals saw their World Cup qualifying run end last July 28 when they lost to Kuwait, 1-5, on aggregate in the second round.

Still, they already made history by reaching the second round after beating Sri Lanka in their first World Cup qualifying tie in close to 10 years.

Thanks to Romeo Gongona and Bertrand Galvan for the info on FB. Azkals will be arriving at 10:30am at the Legazpi Airport.

Photo from: http://peoplesbrigadanews.com/wpress/?p=942

A Fresh Start

Football in Albay has gone from bad to worse. The culprits are the people that have long been handling such events for their on benefits and not the intention of development and propagation of the sport. Mayon United F.C. is now being created as we speak. Unofficially the Club was created by a handful of players online in www.facebook.com using the group created for them there. The idea or creating something small to jump start the rejuvenation of the sport in Albay was quickly approved and accepted. The Clubs name was decided to unite all players in Albay, thus Mayon United Football Club was selected. The club information, updates and events will be posted on this blog site dedicated to the development and growth of football in Albay.