• Sean Hungerford of the Dolphins. Image courtesy Denrei Catalan.

    I'm in the Beach Football Association of the Philippines office in the Philsports complex in Pasig, and president Mike Athab is about to teach me a whole new way of kicking a Football.

    Wearing a somewhat unusual ensemble of red shorts and a pink and white long-sleeved shirt, coach Mike removes his red espadrilles and gets a Football close to his right foot.

    The Iraqi who has spent most of his adult life here cocks his toes skyward and hits the ball with the fleshy of the front ball of his foot.

    The ball rockets towards the wall and back, powerfully.

    I try the technique myself and end up with nothing but sore toes.

    Athab (red) coaches the team. Image courtesy Denrei Catalan.

    “I tried to teach the boys to shoot like that” says Athab, who coached the Philippine Dolphins during their stint in the qualifying for the Beach Soccer World Cup in Qatar last January.

    Unfortunately the players found it hard to ignore the years of instinctively kicking with the inside of the foot. The Dolphins, who were a last-minute replacement and lacked preparation,

    Read More »from Beach Soccer has a Bright Future in the Philippines
  • Mirlan Murzaev scores then silences the crowd. Image by Trisa Carlos.

    CEBU CITY – In the nine-year history of the Asian Football Confederation President's Cup, Dordoi Bishkek have won the event twice and have finished runners-up on four other occasions.

    On Sunday night, we saw why.

    In front of a throaty Cebuano crowd at Abellana Field Dordoi spotted Global an early goal, then took command of the game with six unanswered strikes.

    Mirlan Murzaev struck four times for the Kyrgyz champs, upping his total for the week to nine goals.

    With the 6-1 victory Dordoi win Group B on goal difference over Pakistan squad Khan Research Laboratories. The Bishkek team and KRL both finish with seven points from two wins each and a draw against each other.

    Dordoi's goal difference is +14, four more than the Pakistanis. Both teams now qualify for the six-team final round of the competition in September.

    Global, with three points from a solitary win over Bhutan's Yeedzin, are eliminated in third place.

    ALSO READ: Ginebra sets finals date with Alaska.

    The Filipinos just

    Read More »from AFC President’s Cup: Kyrgyz side too much for Global FC
  • KRL kept Misagh Bahadoran and his mates in check. Image by Trisa Carlos.

    CEBU CITY- It was a goal of such ludicrous beauty that it deserves to be on every highlight reel of every sports show in the world.

    In the 12th minute of their match on Friday against Global FC in AFC President's Cup play, Khan Research Laboratories FC were given a corner kick on the right side.

    KRL's midfielder Mahmood Khan, a right-footer, teed the ball up and let fly.

    Usually in situations like this the ball is struck with the inside of the foot, making the ball an “out-swinger” away from the goal.

    But Khan intentionally struck it with the outside of his foot, causing it to start off to the left then swing wickedly to the right.

    ALSO READ: Ginebra forces do-or-die Game 5.

    It flew two feet above Jeffrey Christiaens, who was by the near post. Global keeper Moussa Sanogo, who was several meters off his line on the kick, scrambled to come back to defend.

    He was too late.

    The ball rocketed across the goal frame past the Ivorian keeper and in off the far post, just above Jerry

    Read More »from AFC President’s Cup: Outrageous corner-kick goal helps Pakistani team beat Global FC
  • Bahadoran (left) scored a goal and made an assist. Image by Trisa Carlos.

    CEBU CITY- Global relied on a ruthless display in the first twenty minutes to dispatch Bhutanese side Yeedzin 5-0 in their first game at the AFC President's Cup qualifying round.

    The result vaults them into the top of group B after Pakistan's Khan Research Laboratories and Kyrgyzstan's Dordoi Bishkek opened play with a dour 1-1 draw also at Abellana Field.

    The top two teams in the four-team group make it to the final round of six teams in September.

    Global dominated proceedings against the plucky but overmatched side from the Himalayan kingdom, whose national team is ranked tied for 207th in the world. A small but vocal group of supporters chanted and cheered their support.

    Just five minutes into the match Patrick Reichelt nodded in Jeffrey Christiaens' free kick past Yeedzin goalie Tshering Dendup to begin the scoring.

    Carlie DeMurga picked up a yellow card for standing within the center circle on the restart.

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    Four minutes later

    Read More »from Global routs Yeedzin in AFC President’s Cup opener
  • Ben Starosta. UNAUTHORIZED COMMERCIAL USE OF THIS IMAGE PUNISHABLE BY LAW. Image copyright Bob Guerrero.

    CEBU- Once again Azkals are coming to Cebu, but this time wearing a different jersey.

    National team stalwarts Carlie De Murga, Jeffrey Christiaens, Misagh Bahadoran, Patrick Reichelt, Marwin Angeles, Marvin Angeles, Jason De Jong, Juani Guirado and Denis Wolf, return to Abellana Field for the 2013 Asian Football Confederation President's Cup qualifying stage here.

    Last December they suited for the Azkals when the Philippines downed Singapore in a friendly on that ground.

    The 2012 UFL League champs face Yeedzin from Bhutan, Dordoi Bishkek from Kyrgyzstan, and the gloriously named Khan Research Laboratories from Pakistan.

    Global begins its campaign against the Bhutanese side on Wednesday, takes on KRL on Friday, and locks horns with Dordoi on Sunday.

    ALSO READ: Yao's Shanghai Sharks bow to Gilas.

    The last game is widely expected to be the toughest game for the home side. Dordoi features seventeen players from Kyrgyzstan's national team.

    The competition is for clubs from Asia's

    Read More »from Global flies the flag in Cebu at AFC President’s Cup
  • Volcanoes in blue were dominated by Hong Kong. UNAUTHORIZED COMMERCIAL USE OF THIS IMAGE PUNISHABLE BY LAW. Image copyright Bob Guerrero.

    The Philippines gave favored Hong Kong all they could handle for forty minutes.

    Unfortunately Rugby is an eighty minute game, and the visitors turned the screws in the second half with seven tries to run out comfortable 59-20 winners on Saturday night in Rizal Memorial Football Stadium.

    Hong Kong now has a 2-1 won-loss record in this year's HSBC Asian 5 Nations Elite Division, and wind up the series with a game against Korea Republic in two week's time.

    The Philippines are last in the table with an 0-2 slate behind similarly winless UAE. The Volcanoes play the Koreans next weekend. Japan leads the round-robin league, which sees the bottom team relegated back to Division 1 next year.

    Although the home side was outclassed, they showed plenty of fighting spirit from the opening whistle.

    The Philippines opened the scoring three minutes in with a well-taken penalty from flyhalf Alex Aronson, who made his first start for the Volcanoes.

    ALSO READ: Why Marlon Stockinger matters.

    Fifteen

    Read More »from A5N Rugby: Philippine Volcanoes go down swinging against Hong Kong
  • Stockinger (right) with Boullier. Image copyright Czeasar Dancel of NPPA.

    Pinoy driver hops into a Lotus, wins some races abroad and fills the nation with pride.

    That's the story of Arsenio “Dodjie” Laurel, who won the Macau Gran Prix in 1962 and 1963. Tragically, he perished in that same race in 1967 gunning for a third title.

    But exactly fifty years after Laurel's second victory in Macau, another Filipino driver has burst into the motorsports firmament.

    Marlon Stockinger is 22 years old, born and raised in the Philippines to a Pinay mother and a Swiss father. He is no “Fil-For” who is Filipino out of convenience. His Tagalog is fluent, in case you're wondering.

    Stockinger started out in karting, like many top F1 drivers, and won the Asian Karting championship in 2006.

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    Right now he plies his trade in Formula Renault 3.5 series (also known as the World Series by Renault) as one of Lotus' seven junior drivers. Last year he picked up a Grand Prix 3 Series win in Monaco.

    How good are his chances for

    Read More »from Why Marlon Stockinger matters
  • Stuart Woodhouse and Michael Letts. UNAUTHORIZED COMMERCIAL USE OF THIS IMAGE IS PUNISHABLE BY LAW. Image copyright Bob Guerrero.

    The Philippine Volcanoes aim to be Asian Rugby's comeback kids when they take on Hong Kong on Saturday night at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium.

    Its the national team's second match in the Elite division of the 2013 HSBC Asian 5 Nations, the top tier of Rugby Union in Asia and the qualifer for the Rugby Union World Cup.

    Two weeks ago the Volcanoes kicked off the single-round-robin competition by getting outgunnned 121-0 in Fukuoka against Asia's highest-ranked team, Japan. The United Arab Emirates and Korea Republic are the other teams in the Elite Division.

    The bottom team is relegated to Division 1, the second tier, and whoever is on top in the 2014 edition of the tournament qualifies for the 2015 World Cup in England, with the second-place side entering a repechage, or second-chance four-team tournament.

    ALSO READ: Warriors down Nuggets to reach second round.

    Last week Japan traveled to Hong Kong and knocked down the home side 38-0 while the Philippines was on a bye. Hong

    Read More »from Rugby: Philippine Volcanoes look to rebound at home versus Hong Kong
  • Christiaens. UNAUTHORIZED COMMERCIAL USE OF THIS IMAGE PUNISHABLE BY LAW. Image copyright Bob Guerrero.

    Recaps of Thursday's Division 1 games in Emperador Stadium

    Global 4, Green Archers United Globe 0.

    Global are once again in hot pursuit of league-leading Stallion after crushing United with four goals in the last 45 minutes.

    Izo Elhabbib, Jeffrey Christiaens, Denis Wolf, and Carlie De Murga struck to give the defending champs a deserving win that gets them to 31 points, two behind Stallion.

    GAU are stuck at eight points and eigth place, still in danger of relegation.

    Global did have most of the chances but Archers had their share of opportunities with their counterattacking game but could not make any of their attempts pay off.

    Global coach Brian Reid started Ben Starosta at centerback and both Angeles twins in midfield. The Archers didn't have Tating Pasilan in the starting lineup because of a bruised thigh, but he did come on as a sub.

    ALSO READ: Gay PBA player coming out unlikely.

    GAU goalie Patrick Deyto was in fine form keeping a clean sheet for most of the first half, until

    Read More »from UFL: Global clubs Archers, Kaya and Nomads draw
  • Fernandes. Image courtesy ONE FC.

    There is one feature of Bibiano Fernandes that truly marks him as a warrior.

    More than his compact but muscular frame. More than his penetrating eyes that transform into a steely gaze at the sight of his opponents.

    What gives Bibiano Fernandes away as a pugilist are those ears.

    They're mangled and misshapen, almost gargoylesque. They act as bookends to his boyish, kind face.

    That's what's called cauliflower ear” says my friend and MMA junkie Franco Mabanta. “A lot of the fighters get it.”

    ALSO READ: Bulls rally to nip Nets in 3OT.

    His ears are a result of years of having his head rubbing constantly on the canvas. From weaseling out of holds, receiving vicious takedowns, and getting entrapped into leglocks. No doubt he wears those cauliflower ears with pride.

    The 33-year old Brazilian has indeed taken his licks. But more often than not, its his opponents who end up on the losing end.

    When the Bantamweight meets Koetsu Okazaki on May 31 in the Mall of Asia Arena in ONE FC Rise To

    Read More »from ONE FC MMA: Bibiano Fernandes set to rock Manila

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Blog Authors / Profiles

  • Bob Guerrero

    Bob is a freelance sports broadcaster. Since 2003 he has been covering billiards both locally and Internationally. Since 2011 he has been commentating on Azkals games. Bob has also covered sports as diverse as poker, rugby, and even beach handball, and is also a professional sports photographer.

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