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The Passionate Fan Pinoy Football Awards 2014

Image copyright Bob Guerrero.

Player of the Year: Phil Younghusband. With two goals in the Challenge Cup, and two more in the Suzuki Cup, Phil gets the nod for this year’s award. All in all he found the back of the net eight times in international games in 2014.

Younghusband continues to be one of South East Asia’s finest strikers, and his consistency has definitely come to the fore.

Phil has also shown himself to be a selfless and intelligent player, as is evidenced by his three assists in the Suzuki Cup. Another interesting thing to note: when was the last time you saw Phil get a card in a game? I struggle to recall when.

Phil is still only 27. If he keeps in shape he will be an effective goalscorer for the Azkals for another five years or even longer. The country is blessed to have him. In ASEAN, only Thailand’s Adisak Kraisorn, Vietnam’s Le Cong Vinh seem to be at his level or higher. Malaysia’s Indra Putra is a fantastic player, very clever and skilled but at 35 he has to be past his prime.

The Philippines is lucky to have Phil. What we need to do is groom or find another striker as early as now.

Phil’s former national team coach and current club coach Simon McMenemy says it best.

“Not easy to keep that level of ability up for such a number of years. Despite criticism he is a constant danger to any team he faces be that national team level or domestic. I glad he’s one of ours, I’d hate to constantly face him.”

Honorable Mention: Roland Müller, for his outstanding play in the Challenge Cup, where he made two penalty saves and plenty of other blanks in open play.

ALSO READ: Memorable Sports Moment of 2014: The FIBA World Cup.

Coach of the Year: Thomas Dooley. The Azkals coach has had far from a smooth ride in 2014, with a pair of players slamming him publicly and a lack of silverware, including a loss to Myanmar in the Peace Cup. There has also been some criticism for the occasional out-of-the-box personnel decision.

But Dooley’s Azkals went to their third straight AFF championship semifinal, which is an achievement that cannot be belittled. Dooley’s troops were a whisker away from lifting the last-ever AFC Challenge Cup before falling to Palestine 1-0 in the final.

Thomas Dooley only took this job with only a one-year contract, but seemed to coach as if it was three years long with the way he trusted youth. Kenshiro Daniels, Amani Aguinaldo, Patrick Deyto, Joven Bedic, Daisuke Sato, Paolo Bugas and Nick O'Donnell were some of the many youngsters who got playing time under Dooley in 2014. This is in stark contrast to his predecessor Michael Weiss, who seemed to rely more on experienced players, even in friendlies.

But just as important as the results is the philosophical and tactical fresh breeze blowing through the team. The side is playing possession-based football and keeping the ball on the ground. Occasionally they go for direct play but that’s fine, because it keeps opponents guessing. It’s an attractive style that is obviously working.

Honorable Mentions: Let Dimzon, who won a second successive UAAP womens title for FEU then topped her class in an international coaching course in Germany. Leigh Manson won the league with Global despite a poor start to the campaign, and then led the team to the Charity Cup as well. Ceres’ braintrust of Cha Soungyoung and Ali Go also deserve kudos for their UFL FA Cup win plus their UFL Second Division crown.

Breakout Players of the Year: Daisuke Sato and Simone Rota. I could have included Amani Aguinaldo in this list but I prematurely gave him this award last year, thanks to a senior cap at 18 and a great UAAP season.

Sato is the present and future of the Philippines at left back, taking the slot of the injured Jeff Christiaens. Sato’s pace, composure, and positioning have been a revelation in 2014, and the Filipino-Japanese’s scoring has just been icing on the cake. Best of all, he is young enough to qualify for both Olympic qualifying and the SEA Games in 2015.

Rota brings muscle, speed and experience in the right back position. He is also an option for centerback if needed. If only we had Rota earlier, say in the 2012 Suzuki Cup and Challenge cups, who knows where we would be now?

Honorable Mention: Paolo Bugas. The midfielder from Nabunturan, Compostela Valley had a terrific 2014, winning the Season 76 UAAP title with FEU while being named the league’s most valuable player. He also got picked up by Global and gained a full senior Azkals cap against Papua New Guinea.

Oh, and he has become hopelessly addicted to riding around in his mountain bike. In fact he uses it to cycle from FEU’s Morayta campus to the FEU Diliman campus for training, and then he bikes back after training. That’s pretty good cardio right there.

ALSO READ: Memorable Sports Moments of 2014: NU wins UAAP championship.

Goal of the Year: Patrick Reichelt vs Turkmenistan. For me a goal of the year is a strike that is both technically brilliant and also highly important. Patrick’s score helped solidify a 2-0 win in the last group game of the AFC Challenge Cup, thus vaulting us into the semis. Plus it’s a wildly difficult volley that needed speed, foot-eye coordination, leaping ability, and dexterity. Watch it at around 1:04 of this clip.

Honorable Mention: Manny Ott’s long-range wonderstrike versus Indonesia which you can view here.

Another honorable mention is Global’s Mark Hartmann scoring a wicked volley goal off a corner kick from the top of the box against a hapless Socceroo team in the UFL. Try as I might, I just couldn’t find a video on youtube.

GAU’s Tating Pasilan made superb flying scissor kick goal at the end of this video that also needs to be noted.

Izzo Elhabbib’s insane chest trap and volley at the end of this clip is also top-drawer.

Another favorite: Jinggoy Valmayor’s fabulous solo effort for Pachanga against Loyola in the UFL FA Cup. It’s the second goal on this clip; start watching at 0:07.

Save of the Year: Michael Louie Casas for Ceres against Global’s Edgar Briones in the UFL FA League Cup final. It’s the dream of every keeper to make a massive save in the end of a big game to help wrap up a title. The dream came true in November when Casas gets his paws on Briones’ stab with just seconds to spare to preserve the 2-1 scoreline. The shot was near the keeper, but the Cebuano still has to react.

Honorable Mention: The Makati Social Welfare folks who saved UP footballer Daniel Gadia’s mom last February.

Image copyright Bob Guerrero.

Wackiest game of the year: FEU 7, UST 4, during opening weekend of UAAP Season 77. This was not a televised game but I was fortunate enough to catch every glorious moment of it. Eric Giganto scored a hat trick against a UST defense that needed better organization. Meanwhile FEU keeper Arjay Joyel was caught Neuering twice and paid the price with two sloppy concessions. The madcap second half saw a seemingly safe 5-1 lead vanish into a frantic 6-4 with minutes to play, until the game’s eleventh score sealed matters. It’s one of the most bizarre football matches I’ve had the privilege of witnessing.

Most Meaningful Game of the Year: The Kick For Life Football Marathon in Cebu. Last December two to six a bunch of hardy Cebuanos played for 101 straight hours on the San Roque Parish field in Mandaue, Cebu. The game is believed to be a new Guinness World Record, shattering the old one of 72 hours. Incredibly, only 36 players were used.

The reason for the football-athon: to raise awareness for kids with Congenital Heart Defects. Check out The Freeman’s Caecent No-ot Magsumbol’s excellent article on Philstar for more details. You can also visit that community’s Facebook page here.

Football is life, in more ways than one.

Follow Bob on Twitter @PassionateFanPH.