Limpag: The Azkals are coming to Cebu

I WAS having a quiet lunch at the Mooon Caf� yesterday, with MCB and CDG, when I got a call from Dan Palami.

His news made my companions scream like school girls.

The Azkals are coming to Cebu.

He said if I could find them a suitable training venue, the Azkals will have a 10-day training camp here for the second leg of their Challenge Cup qualifiers against Mongolia on March 15.

I said there are a lot of suitable training venues here in Cebu.

�Tapos naman kami sa Davao,� Dan The Man said. �And I think Cebu is the perfect place for a training camp.�

So, where to host the Azkals?

The best I could think of is the Aboitiz Sports Field at the Mandaue Reclamation Area, which has ample space for training and practice matches.

Or there is the University of San Carlos-Talamban Campus, but I think the school may be forced to declare a holiday if all the girls will skip their classes.

Or if they want something more private, there is the Don Bosco field in Liloan, which from reports I gather, is in such pristine conditions. There is also the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu field, which has a track oval.

The 10-day camp will be after the Feb. 9 game and could be held early March or late next month. Dan, who is friends with Cebu Football Association president Richard Montayre, will be coming over next week and I hope one of the things that will be finalized is the date and venue for the Cebu training camp.

Anybody else who is excited?

Of course, one of the things I�ll be pushing for is a meet and greet, with fans.

BEATEN BY TWITTER. The camp wasn�t the only we discussed. Dan also said how shocked
he was when news of the Philippines naming a new coach hit the Internet when he hadn�t even made an announcement yet.

It all started in Twitter, and like most hot issues, got picked up by everybody.
�I don�t even have a Twitter account,� Dan said.

The original plan was Dan was to communicate personally with the six candidates, including Simon McMenemy, to inform him of the development before making a formal announcement.

Dan arrived from Germany the other day. And after a 16-hour trip, he went straight to attend a wedding. It was during that ceremony when the news broke and he got deluged by calls and text messages.

And because of the Twitter post, Dan was forced to issue a statement, prematurely.

Yesterday, Dan said he has also talked with Coach McMenemy, who might still have a role to play in Philippine football.

The Challenge Cup game requires licenses that Coach Simon doesn�t have and Hans Michael Weiss has. Weiss is a 45-year-old experienced German coach.

The coach isn�t the only good news that Dan brought from Germany and after our conversation, I�ve added Germany to Fulham as the list of teams to cheer.

Germany will also be sending over special coaches and a training director who will oversee the grassroots development program of our country.

And that�s not all.

They are also willing to host a training camp, all expenses paid, for the Azkals in Germany.

�We will probably do that during the summer, just before the World Cup qualifiers,� Dan said.

Dan also talked at length about the German aid but some of it was off the record so as to not pre-empt whatever announcement the football association will make.

Hmmm, I knew something good was about to happen when I decided to wear my Azkal jersey in the Cebu City Marathon yesterday. I wonder what�s the German word for Azkals.

(www.football.cebunetwork.com)

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on January 11, 2011.