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MANILA, Philippines – Despite the Philippine National Football Team’s failure to qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, Filipinos are still excited for one of the world’s largest sporting events.
A few years back, the country’s world cup dream came alive once again after a historic upset in the first round of the Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) qualifying round.
The Azkals won a match for the first time in a FIFA World Cup qualifier after defeating their South Asian counterparts Sri Lanka on aggregate, 4-1. However, the excitement of the Filipinos did not last as Kuwait halted the team’s journey to Brazil after posting a 5-1 score on the second round.
Despite the heartbreaking loss that shattered the Philippines’ World Cup hopes, people from the emerging football nation are still one with the world in supporting this event.
Brazil 2014
Football only began to enter the national radar in the latter part of the last decade, as the country is mainly a basketball-crazed nation. Slowly but surely, the popularity of the beautiful game grew following the feats of the men behind the Azkals.
And now that football has gained mainstream popularity in the country, Filipinos are thrilled to witness yet another edition of the world cup.
Thirty-two top ranked squads from different football associations and confederations all over the world qualified to compete in this year’s football world championship. The teams who qualified were divided into 8 different groups.
In all of those groups, all eyes in all parts of the world including the Philippines will be on Group B as the 2010 FIFA World champs Spain, their close runner-up the Netherlands, top seed Chile and world number 62 Australia are all part of this group of death.
Consequently, the games of title contender The Netherlands are touted to be one of the most watched in the country as the Dutch will be fielding 26 year-old Jonathan de Guzman, a player of Filipino and Jamaican descent.
(RELATED: Neymar’s brace leads Brazil over Croatia in World Cup opener)
Hosts Brazil, together with other highly ranked Pinoy crowd favorites Germany, Italy, Portugal and Argentina will all be battling for that elusive World Cup plum.
In an interview, former national team player and team captain of relegated United Football League Division 2 club Air Force FC Ian Araneta affirmed that even in the absence of our national team in the FIFA worlds, Pinoys will still be part of this month-long football craze. Araneta believes the Philippines will be rooting for either Brazil or Spain.
“[The] World Cup is a very big event and hindi lang tayo ang sumusubaybay n’yan pati buong mundo (it will not just be us Filipinos who’ll be watching but the whole world as well). And football is always in Pinoys’ hearts. Sa tingin ko Brazil and Spain ang favorite ng mga pinoy ngayon (In my opinion, Brazil and Spain are among the Filipino crowd favorites),” Araneta stated.
He also reiterated that Pinoy fans are excited to see Neymar, the 22 year-old Brazilian football sensation from FC Barcelona, see action for his home country in the World Cup.
The first match between host nation Brazil and world number 18 Croatia at the Arena de Sao Paolo on the opening day will headline the festivities of the much awaited FIFA Worlds. – Rappler.com
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