[OPINION] Making sense of our futsal team’s struggles

MANILA, Philippines – Pinoy football social media is abuzz with fans’ hand-wringing and teeth-gnashing over men’s national futsal team getting manhandled in the ASEAN Football Federation’s yearly futsal championship in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

If you are not familiar with the sport, futsal is 5-a-side soccer played on a smooth surface, usually indoors, on a 20 m x 40 m playing field. At least that is the prescribed size for international play. Futsal all over the world, especially in the Philippines, is played on smaller courts. There are two 20-minute halves and no offsides.

In their first 3 games over the past few days, the Philippines was mangled 21-0 by Indonesia, eviscerated 24-0 by Vietnam, then taken to the woodshed by Myanmar to the tune of 25-0.

The scores got progressively worse, probably because our opponents were gunning for a better goal difference to help improve their chances of qualifying for the semis.

The boys rounded out their campaign with what appeared to be their easiest assignment, a game against Brunei Darussalam on Monday, October 30. But alas, they lost that match too, 5-0.

What’s going on here? Let’s try to answer the questions as best we can.

Why were these players selected?

This is a young team, and many are from the futsal varsity squad of the University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P). The national team’s head coach, Chris Dominguez, has been active in UA&P futsal for a long time.

The school in the heart of the Ortigas Center has been a hotbed for the 5-a-side game for many, many years. I remember playing in a futsal tournament there in 2006. My most vivid memory was blocking a strong shot from former national team player Jimmy Dona with my foot, and it hurting like hell. There are a few schools that have really kept the futsal flame alive, and UA&P is one of them.

UA&P also has what is likely the only international regulation-sized futsal court in greater Manila, if not the whole country, in the top floor of their Parking and Sports Building. A regulation futsal court is much bigger than a basketball court.

Now if we were to truly gather the absolute best 12 futsal players from all over the country, our team would be composed of football players, not pure futsal players. Guys like OJ Porteria, Misagh Bahadoran, and Jason De Jong have good futsal experience even though they play 11-a-side.

The problem is, these guys have day jobs working for PFL clubs, specifically Ceres Negros, Global Cebu, and Davao Aguilas. It’s unlikely their clubs would release them for something like this, with teams jockeying for position leading to the PFL playoffs. PFL is also a fully professional league, unlike the old UFL. That makes it even harder to get players from it to play in a futsal NT. It’s likely the players’ contracts would not allow it.

In the past, Green Archers United Globe, a football team not in the PFL now, has both won previous futsal events using football players, and has generously lent some of their guys to the national futsal team, like Tating Pasilan, Robert Cañedo, Pat Bocobo, and Kim Versales. We still got blown out a lot, but not by 3 touchdowns like this year. As recently as 2014 the Philippines still managed a 4-4 draw against Laos.

For whatever reason there were no Green Archers in this squad, and I am okay with this. We have to somehow transition to using futsal players for our futsal national team, instead of moonlighting football players. Futsal is very different from football. The surface, ball, tactics, rules, and technique differ in significant ways. So there is one thing that can be said about this selection: these guys are futsal specialists.

True, you have players like Meralco’s Ric Padilla and Julian Miranda, who also play football, but these players all have a futsal background too. Padilla, a keeper, is on his second tour of duty with the team. He was also the only PFL player there. Padilla is the third keeper of FC Meralco Manila.

On Monday, October 30, I spoke with former DLSU and Pasargad keeper Josh Cruz. He is from Cebu and told me that many of these kids, like the Haosen brothers, Ryan and Shawn, are from a real futsal team in Cebu.

Former national team coach Red Avelino said that Enzo Hermosa, one of only two players on the side with international futsal team experience, (Padilla is the other), is a whiz at the sport.

Many of the players on this team were culled from teams in the MNCAA, or Men’s National Collegiate Athletic Association. This is where UA&P and Enderun College, another school with a good futsal program, play. The University of Makati also competes in MNCAA futsal.

UA&P are the reigning champs of MNCAA futsal, so it’s fair that many of our national team players come from there. (Hermosa, by the way, is from UA&P*.)

Is there another futsal league in the Philippines that plays at a similar or higher level? There could be some in some provincial city somewhere but I have not heard of it. There was a Philippines Futsal League but judging from its Facebook page, it had its last competition last year. So in effect, the MNCAA is the top tier of men’s futsal in the Philippines. Selecting players from the best school teams in the top tier of futsal for the futsal national team is thus similar to getting players from the best PFL teams to be in the Azkals.

Could the selectors have cast their net wider outside the MNCAA to find other players? Probably, if they had the time. It’s my understanding that the team was assembled in a very short amount of time.

Why were they not given enough time to prepare?

I don’t know.

So if these are our best futsal players, why did they lose so badly?

Because the opponents are professional futsal players from professional clubs. They play futsal, every day and likely haven’t played football in years.

Indonesia has a league with 16 professional futsal clubs as well as U16, U19, U21, U23, and women’s competitions. This is their website.

The sport is just so developed in Indonesia. I went to Indonesia twice this year and saw numerous futsal venues. Vietnam and Myanmar probably have a similar story, judging by how they mauled us.

Our de facto top tier, the MNCAA, pales in comparison to this kind of set-up. As futsal has grown all over ASEAN, the gap between us and our neighbors has only widened.

What can we do to help?

First, don’t blame the players nor the coaching staff. These fine folks answered the call of the flag knowing full well that they could get hammered. I have also heard that many of the players had difficulty making training because of schoolwork and exams.

It was the honor of representing the country that compelled the players and coaches to embark on this ill-fated campaign. They deserve our understanding and support.

Second, we can play the game, appreciate it, and understand it better. Futsal is a fantastic developmental tool for football. It needs less space and expensive equipment to play. You don’t even need spikes to play. Any flat-soled pair of athletic shoes will do. Players get more touches than in an 11-a-side match, which is also important in building skills.

Any basketball court in the country can become a futsal court with an investment of P20,000-P25,000 for a pair of steel goals. Give any experienced ironworker, detailed plans and he should be able to make goal frames.

Third, we can encourage the creation of more leagues. A simple, sustainable, televised senior league would be a huge boost to the game. Kids might watch it on TV and be inspired to do the same on their basketball courts. There are already some youth futsal leagues like the very successful Liga GK, which saw many youth teams from underprivileged communities participate.

It would be great if UAAP and/or NCAA made futsal an official sport. I think futsal makes an ideal first-semester sport for the UAAP, since football is played in the second semester. Many UAAP schools have Team Bs. Why not make some of the team B players play futsal instead?

These big losses are difficult to swallow. And there really is so much beyond the control of us fans. But perhaps this is the sort of wake up call that the sport needs to take off. Let’s hope that happens. – Rappler.com

Follow Bob on Twitter @PassionateFanPH.

*Editor’s Note: In an earlier version of this story, we said Enzo Hermosa is from Enderun. We have corrected this to say he is from UA&P.