Filipinas win silver in football Street Child World Cup

Just like the runner-up finish of Gilas a year ago, this is one silver medal that shines like gold for the Philippines.

A gallant and gritty Philippine girls team bowed to host Brazil 1-0 in the final of the Street Child World Cup on Sunday (early Monday Philippine time) in front of a large and noisy home crowd in Rio de Janeiro's Estadio das Laranjeiras stadium.

The Brazilian ladies scored a first-half goal and held on to become the first-ever girls' Street Child World Cup Champion. In the inaugural SCWC, there was only one mixed event, and no separate ladies division.

“Gutted. (disappointed) It was such a tight game that could have gone either way” wrote Philippine coach Roy Moore on Facebook.

“A huge thanks to the Brazil team who came over to congratulate and celebrate with the Philippine team. The teams had become best friends during the tournament and it was a brilliant final. Brazil were a class act.”

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The Philippines were trying to repeat the achievement of 2010, when a mixed team of boys and girls beat Brazil enroute to winning the second-tier Shield competition against hosts South Africa in Durban.

The girls team swept their group assignments, overwhelming South Africa 9-0 and edging El Salvador 3-1 to gain the second seed in the quarterfinals.

The Pinays then swept aside England 6-0, then got past a game Mozambican squad 1-0 in the semifinals on Saturday to set up the dream final against the Brazilians.

The team is composed of Angelica, Ronalyn, and April Joy from the Fairplay for All Foundation in Payatas, Quezon City, which Moore heads, Crystal from Mango Tree House in nearby Rodriguez, Rizal, Agot, Joy, and Maylene from SOS Village in Davao, Juvie Lynn of kids International Ministries, and Yanzie of Gawad Kalinga. You can learn more about the lives of these kids here.

Fairplay for All prefers not to give the last names of the children for privacy purposes.

Moore also coached the boys' team that reached the last eight among fifteen teams. The Pinoys were unlucky to lose to Pakistan in the last eight, 3-2 on penalties after the game finished 1-1 after extra time. But the boys did have one very notable scalp this week: they beat eventual champs Tanzania 2-0 in the group stage for the East Africans' only loss of the campaign. Tanzania beat Burundi 3-1 in Sunday's final.

The Filipinos also previously outplayed Nicaragua 1-0, and drew Argentina 1-0, with their lone group stage loss coming at the hands of finalists Burundi by a 4-0 score.

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The SCWC, a seven-a-side tournament, is intended to raise awareness of the plight of street children. According to the official website its aim is to “provide a platform for street children to be heard, to challenge negative stereotypes of street children, and to promote the rights of street children.”

The Pinoy team was sponsored by Philippine agribusiness company AgiNurture Inc., and Dutch health-food firm Witsenburg. Globe Telecom also helped the team out, as did football store Bootcamp and The Camp. The Camp, an artificial-grass indoor football facility in Taguig that is owned by Loyola's Freddie Gonzalez, is where the team held many of its practice sessions leading up to the tournament.

Englishman Craig Burrows MBE, one of Moore's mentors with Fairplay for All, summed up the spirit of the SCWC best with this nugget from his Facebook:

“It is time for us to realize that you cannot choose where you are born. Some of the greatest sports heroes had humble starts to life, Pacman (Pacquiao), Pele etc. Street children deserve our help, not humiliation, let us change lives through football and next time we see street children just remember, one day they could represent our nations. LABAN PILIPINAS.”

Follow Bob on Twitter @PassionateFanPH. You can visit the team's Facebook page here.