Despite being the oldest national team in Asia, the Philippines has never had any significant success on the international stage and has never qualified for the AFC Asian Cup or the FIFA World Cup. However, they enjoyed some success in its early years between 1913 and 1934 in the Far Eastern Championship Games, the culmination of which when they defeated Vietnam on a 2-0 score in the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup which awaken the national counsciousness of Filipinos in the field of football.
Under the official FIFA Trigramme the team's name is abbreviated as PHI; this acronym is used by FIFA, the AFC and the AFF to identify the team in official competitions. The team is also identified under the International Organization for Standardization country code for the Philippines as PHL.
However the team is more commonly known as the RP, the acronym for the country's official name, Republika ng Pilipinas, which local media uses when they mainly refer to the team as the "RP Booters" or the "RP XI". The local press has also referred to the team as the "Azkals". The name, derived from askal, a Filipino term for "street dog," became a trending topic on Twitter during the semifinals of the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup.
The Azkals has become the new hope of the Philippines to bring about the resurgence of a stronger and more dynamic system in terms of football development. Most of the players of the football team tour the country to bring much-needed awareness to the public that the Filipinos can have a very bright future with football, and they can compete at par with other countries in international tournaments.
No comments:
Post a Comment