Azkals tweet treats: 1st day in Mongolia [3.13.2011]

One week has now passed since I created LoveAzkals fanpage in Twitter and this blog.  It was such an enjoyable journey because the world of sports, particularly football, is a new territory for me.

My first blog on Metro Society is the most popular post to-date largely because of Jason Sabio who posted the link in his page a few hours after I created this blog.  Without him knowing, it encouraged me to learn more about azkals.

After a week I can say I am starting to get familiar with different personalities that comprised Azkals.  Apart from they superior skills in football, their hardworking attitude and dedication to give their best plus playful personality which became more apparent on their way to Ulan Bator, Mongolia made me realize why they are so lovable.

In my 1st weeksarry, it was a treat receiving a complimentary tweet from Patrick Ace about my blog.  Thanks for that sweet tweet.  Getting followed by Chieffy yesterday is special bonus since he is the pride of our province.


About azkals in Mongolia, I will not be posting all the tweets they posted since various online media portals have already reported them so I will focus on photo blog.

Simon Greatwich in South Korea airport waiting for the flight to Mongolia via Beijing.  He met Dyan Castillejo from ABS-CBN who carried Simon's passport from Manila.  Credit photos to Dyan Castillejo's twitter.

Icelandic-Filipino defender Ray Anthony Johnsson was flying from London to Mongolia via Beijing with 8 hours layover.  That's an exhausting trip!   Filipino-Dutch midfielder Jason de Jong is also expected to fly in from Indonesia.  I did not see any confirmation whether both azkals have already reached Ulan Bator.

Jason Sabio, Simon Greatwich, Phil Younghusband at Palace Hotel lobby in Ulan Bator.  Photo credit to Simon's twitter

The team reached Mongolia yesterday at 5:00 AM in a freezing -20 degree Celsius temperature.  Mongolia Football Federation confirmed receiving 19 players and 8 officials.  The team is staying at Palace Hotel. With the series of luck azkals have been getting it is no surprise hearing that their luggage have been mishandled by the airline. The team got their luggage at 4:00 A.M the following morning which they were told to pick up from the airport. It's freezing cold!



So how the team passed their time in Mongolia?  

Jason Sabio asked Bianca Gonzales on Twitter, which reminds me of Phil Younghusband when he asked Angel Locsin.  At least now, the two are friends based on their interviews.

Jsabio3: @iamsuperbianca Happy Sunday. Would you like to grab a cup of java while im in Manila? Mary Grace at ATC? Hope all is well.  about 17 hours ago

 Jsabio3: @iamsuperbianca Thanks for the best wishes! It is cold, but not unbearable. @SimonGreatwich and @PhilYHusband are keeping me warm! haha about 14 hours ago

Phil and Jason played a prank on Simon who was trying to take a nap.

Simon Greatwich, photo credit to Jason Sabio

Team Captain Aly Borromeo took a walk outside to check out the game pitch. He tweeted he almost turned into ice.

Aly in the hotel lobby.  Photo credit to Simon's Twitter

Tweets of other members of the team ...

JYH53: Just chilling with some pancit given from @acebright.  about 12 hours ago

Jsabio3: Found out today Reymark Palmes says @cristineklenk is really beautiful and Peter Jaugan has a crush on @Kaye_abad.  about 16 hours ago

ianaraneta23 watching tom and jerry show...i miss this!...hehehehe...lol about 11 hours ago: 

anton_delro: Oh boy! -17 degrees and counting. Earlier wasn't too bad, gotta play in the snow but we still have to test it out with our uniforms on! :S about 8 hours ago 

Tophcam2: GOOD NIGHT EVERYONE :D SLEEP WELL!! TIRED... :( PLAYED IN THE SNOW TODAY HEHE :P @anton_delro made some snow angels! hahA! about 8 hours ago

Biggest movie star in Mongolia Bolormaa Nadaam meets bigtime azkals star @philyhusband but doesnt know who phil is.  via Simon Greatwich's twitter

Azkals come face to face with Mongolia’s sub-zero weather

By Cedelf P. Tupas
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 21:15:00 03/13/2011


MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine football team arrived in Ulan Bator early Sunday and got a chilling reminder that it would have to deal with more than just Mongolia in the second leg of its AFC Challenge Cup duel.

Temperatures ranging from minus 16 to minus 20 degrees Celsius greeted the Azkals in their first few hours in the Mongolian capital, where they will be hoping to protect their 2-nil first-leg advantage.

The Mongolians need to win by at least three goals to prevent the Azkals from advancing to the AFC group stage, but the Azkals’ coach, Hans Michael Weiss, is confident they can survive the challenge.

“My team must stand this character test,” said Weiss in an e-mail to the Philippine Daily Inquirer. “The preparations have been very good and done in a professional environment (in Japan). It could not have been better.”

Weiss took the two losses to a Japanese university side in stride, saying the team learned much from the experience.

“Training in Japan helped a lot,” said Weiss, whose squad was outscored 1-12 in two matches against Kanto University. “Even with two hard defeats, the team learned.”

Azkals team manager Dan Palami is also upbeat with the team’s chances.

“It’s just another adversity that the team has to overcome,” he said. “I know the players very well and rest assured, they will be there fighting for every ball on Tuesday despite the cold.”

But concerns remain on how the players will deal with the extreme weather in Ulan Bator, which is about 4,300 feet above sea level.

“It was freezing out there, we couldn’t stay put,” Borromeo told the Inquirer in an e-mail after checking out the artificial turf at the playing venue. “We had to keep moving. I think we will be okay once we get warmed up.”

Borromeo added: “It would really help tremendously if there won’t be a wind chill and the sun would come out.”

“We will just try our best to overcome the cold,” said co-skipper Chieffy Caligdong, the scorer of the first goal in the opening leg in Bacolod City last February 9, in a separate interview.

The match is scheduled for Tuesday at 1 p.m., said to be the hottest time of the day in Ulan Bator.

“It’s really cold especially when the wind is blowing,” said defender Jason Sabio. “But otherwise, it’s no problem.”

The Azkals’ conditioning coach, Josef Malinay, who is with the team in Mongolia, said the game could be played at minus 4 degrees.

“The wind is the killer,” Malinay said.

The squad was still awaiting the arrival of Filipino-Icelandic defender Ray Jonsson and Fil-Dutch midfielder Jason de Jong, who would fly in from Indonesia, where he has been playing club football.

The Azkals had to battle through several travel glitches before reaching Ulan Bator from their training site in Gotemba City in earthquake-hit Japan.

There was one more glitch Saturday when the Azkals were forced to leave their luggage in Beijing, where they took the connecting flight to Ulan Bator. As of 6 p.m. Sunday, their luggage had yet to arrive in Ulan Bator.

Azkals coach tells fans: Don't worry

MANILA, Philippines — Even though there appears a slight concern in Philippine Azkals’ ability to deal with playing in a freezing condition, Azkals coach Hans Michael Weiss is not about to press the panic button.

Only three days left before their crucial AFC Challenge Cup qualifying rematch against Mongolia in Ulan Bator, Weiss remains upbeat the Azkals can cope up with the freezing weather condition despite losing to the Kanto University football team in a tune up match, 4-0, in Gotemba City, Japan last Wednesday.

“No worries for all Azkals fans,” the German mentor, who turned 46 Friday, told the Bulletin in an e-mail interview.

“(Yes) we had big problems adapting to the weather and had a match versus a good university side… but the result really doesn’t matter too much and it shows you that we still have to learn a lot.”

Weiss acknowledged that the college team they faced was superior in both technique and teammanship than the Azkals side, saying: “The team (Japanese) trains under professional conditions since young age, (and) they are affiliated to Yokohama Marinos, a big club in Japan. Some of these players might be pros in the future.”

Azkals team manager Dan Palami agreed.

“It’s okay (with the loss). Our intention was really not to win, but to get the players acclimatized with the cold weather,” Palami said in a phone interview yesterday.

Palami was so confident about the team’s chances that he believes the team’s performance against the Japanese team would be enough to beat the Mongolians for the second time.

“Yes (we can still beat them),” said Palami, who added that the Azkals were safe following a powerful 8.4-magnitude earthquake that triggered a massive tsunami in the northeastern part of Japan.

“The Azkals are safe… felt the tremors but otherwise OK. Airports have been closed, hopefully it will not affect our flight to Mongolia tomorrow,” Palami posted on his Twitter account.

The Azkals were playing another Japanese university team in Gotemba City at presstime and Weiss appears unconcerned if ever the team loses again because he said the locals are still adjusting with the condition and “several players have been missing, so that was also a big factor.”

Fil-American Jason Sabio and Fil-British Simon Greatwich flew from the US and joined the team only yesterday afternoon. Two more Fil-foreigners, Ray Jonsson and Jason de Jong, will rejoin the team in Ulan Bator next week to complete the line up.

Meanwhile, Philippine Football Federation president Mariano “Nonong” Araneta said the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation had approved the release of a P2- million grant for the Azkals’ campaign in the Challenge Cup.

He said the amount will help foot the bill for the Azkals’ travel expenses since the mandatory $20,000 aid by the AFC was not enough.

Armed with a 2-0 edge after beating the Mongolians last Feb. 9 in Bacolod City, the Azkals need only a draw to advance to the group stage in Myanmar.

Should the nationals prevail, they will meet Bangladesh, Palestine and the host nation in a single-round battle for the top two slots to the regular draw of the Asian Challenge Cup in 2012.

/via Manila Bulletin (Francisco Santiago, 3/12/2011)