Football: Pinay Power to be tested at AFF Championship

It’s a dreary morning at the Rizal Memorial stadium, and our women’s national team is toiling under a light rain and a murky gray sky. 

In a half-field scrimmage a cross is floated into the box and goalkeeper Inna Palacios soars to gather it. But another player challenges the La Sallian for the ball and body-checks her, sending Palacios to the turf. She is slow to get up. 

Sure, it’s just a training session, and there is still about 3 weeks to go before the official matches. But roster spots are being contested, and it’s clear that competition for them is fierce. 

Coach Buda Bautista is in the process of making the final cuts for the team that will play in the Asean Football Federation Women’s Championship for 2016 in Mandalay, Myanmar from late July to early August. The Pinays are in a 4-team group where they play Thailand on July 26, Vietnam two days later, and Singapore on the 30^th. The top two teams meet the best teams from the other group comprising of Australia’s U20 side, Myanmar, Malaysia, and Timor Leste, in the semis. 

Australia are the newest member of the Asean Football Federation but, perhaps because of the high development of the game in their county, are only sending youth teams to these senior tournaments. 

The pool of 26 players that was there at practice on Thursday, June 30 are a mix of Filipina-Americans and homegrown stars, mostly from the UAAP. The entire bunch is billeted at the Philsports complex in Pasig, where they sleep on bunk beds, 10 to a room. 

Heather Cooke, Shelby Salvacion, Camille Wilson, all veterans from the 2013 AFF campaign, are back. There are also some very youthful players from the states like Sara Urbano, Krystal De Ramos, Hannah Parado, and Sidra Bugsch. Bugsh is just 17, while the previous 3 are 19 or younger. 

Bautista rates Parado highly, saying she is a box-to-box threat who can distribute the ball as well from the holding midfield slot. 

In the mix as of last Thursday were UP’s Cristina De Los Reyes, Mary Rose Obra, Christille Ardiente, and Molly Manalansan. DLSU offered defender Angge Metillo, Sara Castañeda, Irish Navaja, and Palacios. Two more Archer alums, Natasha Alquiros and keeper Haya Ibarra were also at training. One UST Tigress, Junjun Cabalan, was also present. 

Apart from Ibarra and Palacios, there were also two other goalies, Patricia Dull, just 18 years old, and Hazel Arce, a Batangueña from FEU. 

Bautista was set to make her final three or four cuts over this past weekend. She says she doesn’t know if she will bring two or three goalkeepers to Mandalay.

Bautista has her work cut out for her, especially since two capable goalscoring threats from past Philippine teams are not in the camp and won’t be making the trip to Burma. Joana Houplin is reportedly engaged to be married soon, while Fil-Canadian Jesse Shugg is playing club football in Iceland. Houplin was the top scorer in the 2013 AFF championship with 8 goals. Without those pair of strikers, it may be up to Cooke to move up the formation and be counted on to find the back of the net. 

Bautista says her philosophy will be to “work on the stability of the defense” with Metillo, Dolino, Malanansan, and the youthful Claire Lim repelling opposing attacks. We can expect a 442 formation, with Bautista non committal on whether she favors a flat midfield or a diamond.

Coach Buda is in her second year of handling the women’s team. Last year she steered the Philippines to a 1-2 record in the group stage of this same event. The two setbacks came against Myanmar, (4-1), and Thailand, (4-0), while the side won handily against Malaysia, 3-0. The upcoming competition will be part of Bautista’s ongoing education, which has been pretty comprehensive. 

Bautista, a former national team player from San Juan, played at the tertiary level for PUP, where she also studied Physical Education.

In the AFC there are numerous coaching licenses. The “C” is the basic course, (there is a Youth Coaching License course below that, previously known as the National Coaching Certificate Course), and then a “B” coaching course after. The “A” license is needed to coach a national team or a club side in the AFC Cup. An “A” will also likely be a requirement for teams in the upcoming national league. 

Bautista had the sheepskin from all of those courses hanging on her wall by 2013. Then she went a step further, by taking the AFC Pro Diploma course. Only PFF technical director Aris Caslib has a Pro Diploma in the Philippines, while Bautista and Marlon Maro are set to complete theirs soon. 

The Pro Diploma is the Ph.D of football instruction, and in taking the course over a long period of time Bautista has traveled to Malaysia, China, Korea, and even Switzerland for seminars, match analysis sessions, and other course work. Naturally, like any Ph.D, you have to do a dissertation as well. 

Being a book-smart coach is one thing; being an effective one on the sidelines in the heat of battle is another. 

“She’s very good tactically,” says former team captain Marielle Benitez, who will likely be part of her coaching staff in Myanmar. 

“She’s quick to identify options and is able to explain well to the players. She’s the type of coach who can joke around with the players but also demand discipline and respect from them. For her coaching staff, she’s a good mentor. You’ll really be able to learn from her. She makes sure that you can voice out your thoughts and give feedback about players and sessions.” 

Bautista may have that stern, professorial air, but she does have the touch of a player’s coach, according to Alquiros. 

“One of the things I like about Coach Buda is she is very patient, and able to handle different personalities and different kinds of girls. She doesn’t like to get mad. She knows how to keep her cool and explain rather than shout.” 

And Alquiros intimates an interesting way with which she motivates her charges. 

“She isn’t readable, which makes you want to work harder.” 

Bautista certainly wants to keep up the momentum of Philippine women’s football after a glorious silver medal in the U14s championship recently. She will have an uphill task. Bautista says that Thailand will be a challenge, since that team competed in the Women’s World Cup last year. But she is hopeful of taking points from Vietnam and Singapore. 

When she isn’t coaching, Bautista is an avid mountain biker, who often goes to the hills of Timberland in San Mateo with her DLSU biker colleagues. She noted sadly that recently, an unfortunate MTB enthusiast fell off a winding path to his death there. 

Her team is also trying to climb a mountain. There are pitfalls along the way, but also opportunities at bringing football glory to the nation. – Rappler.com 

Follow Bob on Twitter @PassionateFanPH