Fair Play: What the game vs. Malaysia meant to me

(This is the draft of my Fair Play column on Sun.Star Cebu for March 1)

I�M not talking about last night�s game of course.  I wrote this hours before the match, because that�s the rules guys like us have to live by.

I�m talking about a much earlier encounter, one that happened when I was both starting as a footballer and as a follower of sports.

It happened almost 21 years ago, in the Southeast Asian Games, the SEA Games (or Sea Games as some media outfit call it) for short.  And as a 12-year-old, I always wondered why there were basketball, football, tennis and all other sports in the hard court in an event called the Sea Games.

It was the first time that I followed a sports event, and the first time, too, that I followed the sports pages and I thought, writing about these events must be fun.

But, sadly, I really don�t remember much from that historic win, when we beat the defending champions, 1-0.

However, I do remember a conversation that happened among match officials in the Coke-Go-For-Goal eliminations months after that SEA Games.

It was my first footie tournament, and I guess, the fact that I remember overhearing what officials say sort of showed the path that I was going to take.
They were talking about the win, and this I can�t forget because I can still quote the guy word-for-word, �If we beat Malaysia, we can quality to the World Cup.�

World Cup? Eh?

The win over Malaysia meant heightened interest and support for the sport�relatively compared to the Azkals�and that led to the short-lived P-League.

It was a promise squandered, as we have all learned to know, but for me, I�ve always used the line, �We once beat Malaysia,� when I get tired of having to defend Philippine football against cynics.

Yep, we once beat Malaysia.

And last night we hosted them, again.

In a column back in 2010, which was written hours before the Philippines was to face Vietnam, I deleted a line, a move that I have since regretted. I wrote,
�The team was to face Vietnam last night�.but I believe in this team.� 

I deleted that because, well, I expected us to lose.

For last night�s game? I won�t try to get it back and use that line. Besides, as a superstitious fan, I try to keep things the same the last time my favorite team does well.

All I want from last night�s game is this--for a kid, some 21 years now, to be writing, �What the game vs. Malaysia meant to me.�

Because that would be something.