The nagging question

By Alex P. Vidal

“Soccer is a great game, and the rich variety of styles and passions that come with being truly global makes the World Cup a nonpareil event in the universe of competitive sport.” – Serge Schmemann

THE most persistent “nagging” question we have been hearing from Filipino soccer fans anywhere in the world nowadays has been, “why don’t we have a team in the (FIFA) World Cup?”

Why oh why? Why not?

Akin to “when can the Philippines win its first gold in the Olympics?” before weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz made history by winning the Philippines’ first gold medal at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo in July 2021.

The thought-provoking World Cup question will continue to buzz around while the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 “survivors” (as of this writing)—Brazil, Argentina, France, Spain, England, Portugal, Netherlands, Croatia, Japan, Switzerland, Morocco, Senegal, South Korea, Poland—tear each other apart in the knockout stage, and the top two finishers battle for the championship on December 18.

Filipino fans will stop asking the same question immediately after all the teams have gone back to their respective countries at the conclusion of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.

As long as it’s World Cup season, there’s no stopping soccer fan Juan de la Cruz from whirring the same nagging remark.

They will resurrect this nagging question anew when the FIFA World Cup blasts off in New York and New Jersey in 2026. Again and again.

By that time, we aren’t sure yet if the Philippines will be able to qualify.

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Frankly speaking, we doubt. Much as we want to see the all-Pinoy booters kicking the World Cup ball in the World Cup field four years from now, we can only cross our fingers and wish for the football fairytales.

Yes, we have a national football team called Azkals (Street Dogs) under the auspices of the Philippine Football Federation (PFF); but it has never qualified for the FIFA World Cup—except the AFC Asian Cup only once, in 2019. Azkals finished second after losing to Palestine in the final at the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup.

Qualifying for the World Cup is as tough as winning the New York City Marathon for a runner in the 42.195 kilometer-race who is not from Kenya and Ethiopia.

They are saying it’s difficult to qualify in the World Cup. But did the Philippines make an attempt to qualify? The answer is yes.

Qualifying for the 2022 World Cup began on June 6, 2019, when minor nations from the Asian confederation played their first round of matches.

The Philippines was assigned in Group A together with China, Syria, and Guam. Here’s the other compositions from Asia: Group B: Australia, Jordan, Chinese Taipei, Kuwait, Nepal; Group C: IR Iran, Iraq, Bahrain, Hong Kong, Cambodia; Group D: Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Palestine, Yemen, Singapore; Group E: Bangladesh, Oman, India, Afghanistan, Qatar; Group F: Japan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Myanmar, Mongolia; Group G: United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia; Group H: South Korea, Lebanon, North Korea (withdrew),Turkmenistan, Sri Lanka.

Only Iran, Saudi Arabia, Japan, south Korea, Australia made it.

And, so far, Japan and South Korea did not disappoint us Asians.

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We smell a big rat in the proposed Maharlika Investment Fund in the Philippine House of Representatives. It seems this is another clear case of what the Tagalogs popularly express as “ginigisa sa sariling mantika.”

Already, a party-list Rep. France Castro, representing the Makabayan bloc in the House, has vowed to scrutinize its legality, calling “dubious” the hasty approval of the measure which will use billions of funds from the Government Insurance Security System (GSIS) and Social Security System (SSS).

The House Committee on Bank and Financial Intermediaries has approved House Bill (HB) 6398 on the proposed P275 billion Maharlika Wealth Fund Act.

This latest brouhaha in the House calls for the vigilance not only of the Makabayan bloc, but the entire Filipinos for that matter.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo.—Ed)