This is the Golden Age of Pinoy youth Football

It's a muggy July Friday afternoon in the ASCOM field in Taguig, but that's no stopping eighty teenage kids from running around and performing drills under the sun, all wearing identical black shirts.

Coach Marlon Maro is leading them in a variety of drills to sharpen their technique.

This is the Clear National Aspirants Camp. Sponsored by Clear shampoo of Unilever, it brings together some of the nation's brightest young Footballing talents in one place for a few days of intense training, classroom study, and game experience.

“We never had anything like this in my time” says PFF Marketing official Ebong Joson, himself a former national team player.

The boys, born in 1997 and 1998, have come from all over; Agusan, Dipolog, Laguna, Negros Occidental, Tarlac, Leyte, and of course Metro Manila.

On the Sunday the kids split up into teams of 9 and play in a mini-tournament in Rizal Memorial. The goal of all this: to create a more competitive U19 national side come 2015.

While the outfield players impress, goalie coach Noel Marcaida says that the goalkeepers have some ways to go. It's a function of the lack of qualified goalkeeping coaching in the provinces.

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“It's really different when you have a dedicated goalkeeping coach making you do drills all the time” says U23 shot-stopper Patrick Deyto, who is at the event as a special guest.

The Clear National Aspirants Camp isn't the only development that is spurring youth Football in the country.

The Philippines U15 Boys team recently competed in the Frenz-Football Association of Malaysia Champions Trophy, a South East Asian home-and-away tournament funded by Frenz Football Academy in Malaysia.

The team, mentored by Anto Gonzales, finished fifth of six teams in Group B with a 3-7 slate against tough sides from Indonesia, Malaysia Laos and Brunei. The teams missed the playoffs, but the experience has been invaluable for players like JB Borlongan and Sebastian Patangan, who show plenty of promise.

The kids would gather on weekends and either fly out for games abroad or at home in Rizal Memorial or in Cebu. You can see the footage of their wild 4-3 victory over Lao Toyota of Laos here. The Philippines are in white.

Gonzales next brings the squad to Myanmar for the Asian Football Confederation U15 qualifiers, where a group game versus powerhouse Japan awaits.

There was more good news in Pinoy Football last month when the Philippine U18 squad, playing under the banner of Carranz FC, won the U18 Mens Title in the very competitive Kanga Cup in Canberra, Australia, defeating Capital Football NTC 1-0 in the final off a goal from Cebu's Val Calvo.

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Calvo was part of the Ateneo Men's Football team that won the 2013 UAAP Senior Football title.

Part of the Carranz squad was Arnel Amita, an outrageously skilled midfielder from Compostela Valley who plays for FEU in the UAAP. He was so impressive in the tournament that he was invited back to train by one of the teams.

Mindanao has been a surprisingly fertile hunting ground for Footballing talent.

“There are new areas producing very good players” says Aris Caslib, former Azkals coach and PFF Technical Director. “We never expected good players from Butuan and Dipolog. And now Masbate is picking up.”

According to Caslib, the PFF runs “Festivals of Football” in Davao, San Carlos, Cagayan De Oro, Laguna, Metro Manila, Tarlac, Bicol, and now Dipolog to unearth the top young talents.

Caslib says the PFF is aiming to create a strong team that can be competitive in the 2019 FIFA U17 World Cup. That event, unlike the senior World Cup, is played every two years. Meanwhile the Philippine U19 team, under Maro, will join an ASEAN qualfiying tournament in Surabaya, Indonesia next month.

“We believe we can do better in age-group competition than with the senior team” adds Caslib.

Already there is progress. The U14 team, led by Aeyh Fabroada, defeated Australia in a recent competition.

Sandro Reyes, the ten-year old Pinoy who is playing in Barcelona's Escola, is part of the plans of the team as well. The PFF has yet to contact Sandro's parents, but Caslib says “We are following him now. He is on the radar. Hopefully he can come in for the U13 and U11 program. He's going to be a model for the younger Filipinos.”

The girls haven't been neglected either. There is a national U14 girls team that is coached by Let Let Dimzon, who also mentored FEU's ladies to the UAAP crown this season. Caslib says Dimzon has been invited to take an “A” coaching license coach by the AFC.

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The UAAP has traditionally been the source for young talent, and that league has also leveled up in two significant ways.

The recently concluded season saw the return of National University to Football competition. That means only Adamson is missing in Men's senior Football. The extra team means two more games for the other teams, offering valuable experience to everyone.

The league also shifted to a Final Four format identical to that used in the Basketball competition. Again, more games. In the past, only the top two teams featured in the postseason.

There have been whispers that for the coming season, ABS-CBN will televise one game a week in the regular season apart from covering the Finals.

Of course the Suzuki U23 National Championship was a boon to Pinoy youth Football. After several months of intense competition, Negros Occidental, as Ceres FC, won the title over Davao, 1-0 in the final match in Dumaguete last May.

Metro Manila now has a top-tier youth competition too. The UFL Youth league wrapped up just after the school year began, with age-group divisions all they way from U13 to U19. Spectators were wowed by the intense battles and high-quality play.

It all sounds like good news for Filipino youth Football, but there is one major omission in this happy narrative. Iloilo, long the country's best source for Football talent, seems to have been left behind.

Gonzales went to Santa Barbara and Barotac Nuevo in early July in search of reinforcements for his U15 side. This was his report, from his Facebook page.

“Iloilo football now is a far cry from its glory days when the majority of the national team players will tell you that their Mama cooks the best batchoy. A total of fifty-eight kids from Santa Barbara and Barotac (Nuevo) tried out. Only three kids are under consideration.”

“Coaches I spoke to only had one explanation as to why talent has been scarce - no competitions except for the 7-a-side football festivals organized annually by Chieffy (Caligdong) and Ayan (Araneta.) The grassroots (youth) should at play between 25-40 competitive matches a year. And because there are no competitions, coaches don't hold practices regularly and kids don't prepare for anything. So, the competitive spirit and team concept aren't developed and these reflect in the way they approach the game.”

“Iloilo has a number of licensed coaches but most of them are working exclusively for private schools because they are the ones who can pay enough. So, their technical know-how is limited to very few children.”

“There might be very accessible pitches but they are not of good quality. Technical skills can definitely be developed at a much faster rate on good pitches.”

“I believe that with a fully-functioning FA paired with a supportive community, it won't be difficult to move Iloilo football back on the right track.”

Iloilo did not send kids to the Dream Aspirants Football Camp. I was informed that the invitation to their FA arrived too late.

Hopefully Iloilo can kickstart its way back to relevance. Both private and public sector help can make it happen.

But meanwhile, the rest of the nation marches on, and youth Football takes root in the unlikeliest of places.

On a Saturday morning in the volleyball court of the tenements in Western Bicutan, Taguig, several youngsters are battling it out on the concrete.

Small, temporary goals bookend the surface, while the kids furiously try to put a Futsal ball in the net.

This is Western Bicutan Football Club, a weekly kickaround group that a few friends of mine from the Unitarian Universalist Church of Bicutan have established. Attendance is good, about twenty kids per session. The youngsters are enthusiastically learning the finer points of the game under the tutelage of Kishore Patrimonio, a Barotacnon living nearby.

Hopefully we'll be good enough one day to join tournaments. Meanwhile kids like Ivan, Okoy, Jobert, Elson, Ren-ren, and many others just can't stop playing.

The youth revolution of Football is well under way, ensuring a bright future for the Beautiful Game in the Philippines.

Watch ABS-CBN Sports' special documentary about the Clear National Aspirants Camp, entitled One Clear Goal on Studio 23, 7pm Saturday, August 17.

Follow Bob on Twitter @bhobg333.