Filipinos are currently celebrating the victory of their men’s national football team after the country qualified yesterday for the AFC Asian Cup for the first time, ever.
Nicknamed the “Azkals (street dogs),” the team played against Tajikistan at Manila’s Rizal Memorial Football Stadium and won 2-1, with goals care of players Kevin Ingreso and Phil Younghusband.
According to ABS-CBN News, close to 5,000 spectators witnessed history happen as the Philippines qualified for the upcoming 2019 AFC Asian Cup happening in the United Arab Emirates from Jan. 5 – Feb. 1, 2019.
The AFC Asian Cup is a quadrennial event organized by the Asian Football Confederation that will have 24 countries from the region competing. This is the first time the Asian Cup will have 24 contenders. In 2015, as in previous years since 2004, only 16 teams could qualify.
“We never gave up,” coach Thomas Dooley told reporters after the game. “They scored 20 minutes before the end, and a lot of teams would fall down but our team did not.”
And Filipino football fans are ecstatic, with the search term “Asian Cup” still trending on Philippine Twitter this morning.
https://twitter.com/arieshalili1/status/978829890106441728
https://twitter.com/elleconcepcion_/status/978826931079585792
https://twitter.com/KierJason/status/978802380874502144
Yey! Congrats #Azkals! We're going to the AFC Asian Cup 2019! #PH #WeBelieve
— Jan Elan Navera (@heyitsjanelan) March 27, 2018
https://twitter.com/raincabasag/status/978793734706937856
Husay ng Azkals. Pasok sa AFC Asian Cup!
— Rafael Jayson Bayato (@rafaelbayato) March 28, 2018
Younghusband, who has long been the poster boy of Philippine football, also scored his 50th international goal during the game. But he told ABS-CBN News that he was more excited about qualifying for the Asian Cup.
“Like I said – if it came from this game or in 10 games’ time, that was not on my mind,” he said. “It was about getting the win. If we’d won with my own goal, that meant more for me.”
“To have the feeling at the same time makes it more special,” Younghusband added.
The Philippines is a basketball-obsessed country but football, arguably the most popular sport in the world, started to gain a large following in recent years. The sport’s popularity has grown, thanks in large part to Azkals, who surged in popularity in the late 2000s.
Reader Interactions