Cebu Football

Cebu Football's New address

2015-10-02T10:10:00.000+08:00

Hi all. I have transferred to a new address www.mikelimpagblog.wordpress.com. My old posts are still there and I believe the new site--and wordpress--offers a better layout than blogger.

Thanks for reading. (I'll just keep this address too, who knows eh?)

Here's my new site again. www.mikelimpagblog.wordpress.com

Fair Play: How Pasa goofed PHL's Olympic hopes

2015-09-24T08:36:00.000+08:00

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's Sept 24. edition)
IF there’s one solid reason there is a need to revamp the whole leadership in the Philippine Amateur Swimming Association, their group’s conduct on the Maxime Rooney affair is it.

If what the future Olympian’s father said is true, then our swimming officials just turned down our best chance to win an Olympic gold for reasons know only to them.

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Fair Play: Tweets are mine, I think

2015-09-23T08:45:00.002+08:00

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's Sept. 23 edition)
WHILE the Cebu media community is celebrating its Press Freedom week, there's an interesting issue brewing in Manila--a sportswriter was banned from all PBA activities for his actions on social media.

It all started when a model-slash-round-girl confessed about having an affair with a PBA exec in a radio show, the writer picked it up and then interviewed the host is in his own radio show. He also dealt about the matter in social media, where he supposedly maligned the concerned official.

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Fair Play: An exciting Cesafi competition

2015-09-21T09:34:00.002+08:00

(This is my Fair Play column for SunStar Cebu's Sept. 21 edition)
AT the end of the first round of the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. college football season, defending champion University of San Carlos was at the bottom of the heap, with two points to show in four matches.

They lost to the University of San Jose-Recoletos and the University of the Visayas and struggled to earn a point against the University of Cebu and the University of Southern Philippines.

But in the second round, USC finally showed why it is the defending champions with wins over the top two teams—2-1 against USJ-R and 3-0 against the University of Cebu—rekindling its title defense alive.

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Fair Play: Will bowling meet Cesafi's requirements?

2015-09-19T10:32:00.003+08:00

(This is my Fair Play column for SunStar Cebu's Sept. 19 edition)

IT’S great that Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. Commissioner Felix Tiukinhoy is open to the idea of adding bowling in the school league. However, the Commissioner set a series of requirements that would test the resolve of the bowling community.

Though hard, the requirements are not insurmountable, and overcoming them could mean a smooth-sailing entry for the sport in the school league.

Fair Play: Smart Cup gets smart reinvention

2015-09-17T09:50:00.002+08:00

(This is my Fair Play column for SunStar Cebu's Sept. 17 edition)
FOUR years after it was first announced in Cebu, the P80 million dalliance of Smart in Philippine football gets another reincarnation as a national U22 amateur championships this time around.

First, Smart wanted a league, with provincial teams competing against each other. Of course, the UFL was already at its height, so it became a de-facto reincartion of the PFF men’s open of yester-years. When it became an extension of the UFL and the pro teams made it their playground, there was discontent from the provincial FAs. This P80 million tournament was supposed to be for Philippine football, not the UFL.

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Fair Play: A nod to team strength in Milo Little Olympics

2015-09-16T07:07:00.003+08:00

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's Sept 16 edition)
WINNING the overall title in a multi-event meet isn't easy. Just ask the Central Visayas delegation in the Palarong Pambansa, where it has taken up long-term residence at fourth place.

Winning the overall title in a multi-event meet when you're a visiting team is an even harder feat. For the Palaro, the NCR regularly does that every year, but that's because being the National Capital Region, it has a wider base of athletes to choose from, and these athletes are better than most.

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Fair Play: A salute to Cebu football

2015-09-14T09:35:00.004+08:00

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's Sept. 14 edition)
CEBU teams have dominated the football competition in the previous editions of the Milo Little Olympics Visayas elimination because while it was Visayas-wide event, it was rare for out-of-town teams to send in their football squads to the meet held in Cebu in its first 19 years.

There were one or two visitors from Iloilo and Bacolod in the last two or three years, but a single entry in a year couldn’t really break the stronghold of the Cebuanos.

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Fair Play: A tough night for PHL football

2015-09-12T17:17:00.005+08:00

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's Sept. 12 edition)
FANS had barely settled on their seats, or drinks, last Tuesday when the Philippines found itself a goal down against Uzbekistan in the World Cup qualifiers last Tuesday.

The shock on the faces of the fans in the sports bar I was in was obvious. One, who was watching with his family, asked me the obvious question, “Sulod to?”
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Fair Play: A perfect finale to a great Cesafi rivalry.

2015-09-10T09:17:00.001+08:00

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's Sept. 10 edition)
IT was far from over yet fans of Don Bosco Technological Center were already anticipating the final whistle and started massing up at the track oval.

They knew it was coming. They were waiting.

But, on the pitch, the young Ateneo de Cebu squad was giving it all for a final push. And if not for an error in judgment by keeper Ralph Macam, who pulled a couple of brilliant saves, the Magis Eagles could have made the outcome in doubt right before the final whistle.

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Finally, a team that we believe in.

2015-09-08T07:24:00.001+08:00

(Here's an opinion piece I wrote for our home match against Uzbekistan tonight.)

The Philippines will take on dangerous Uzbekistan in a crucial round of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers and the biggest concern for some--at least for me--is whether the crowd that will show in the game would be enough to make the home game a home game.

Gone are the days of off-field drama, of player unavailabilty and of uncertainties. Now, we got our best possible team available and we no longer rely on luck in getting past the teams that outrank as by more than the total difference of ages of the opposing team's and our backline.

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Fair Play: Black Light run's black eye

2015-09-07T08:34:00.002+08:00

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's Sept. 7 edition)
THERE are fun runs and then there are runs that are fun and I wonder where the recent Black Light Run held at the South Road Properties would belong. For sure the organizers and participants will have a different assessment from those caught in traffic by the road closure last Saturday and for them, it wasn’t fun at all.

To be honest, I paid scant attention to the event as it was just one of the many scheduled for the weekend, but I did remember that it was quite a special case because for a 10K event, the organizers managed to have half the South Road Properties closed for a few hours.

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Fair Play: Fourth Sun.Star Cup.

2015-09-05T09:02:00.001+08:00

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's Sept. 5 edition)
HOW quickly time flies. Just like that, we are now on the fourth edition of the Sun.Star Football Festival, which will be on Nov. 21 and 22 at the Cebu City Sports Center. It seemed only last year when we had the first one, and now we are on our fourth edition.

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Fair Play: Bowling for bowling in schools

2015-09-03T09:26:00.001+08:00

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's Sept. 3 edition)
HERE’S something a bit ironic, bowling is the only sport where we won an Olympic gold medal, but we don’t have bowling in any of our school leagues, Palarong Pambansa or even in the meets organized by the sports bodies.

In the 1988 Seoul Olympics, Arianne Cerdeña won the gold when bowling was a demo sport and of course, we all know who the legendary Paeng Nepomuceno is. They are but two of the many world-class bowlers from the Philippines and that we have so many shows how good we are at the sport despite its absence in the school leagues or other meets, the usual breeding ground for Olympians or national team players.

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Fair Play: Cesafi, a great asset as CFA member

2015-09-02T09:06:00.004+08:00

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's Sept. 2 edition)
I FINALLY had a chance to see the template the Philippine Football Federation sent to the local provincial football associations that they must follow inline with the changes mandated by Fifa in Philippine football.

There are a lot of changes actually and if the CFA adopts them all, the way it operates will be a whole lot different from what we are used to. From the board composition, to membership, to the election.

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Fair Play: How USC can get over that mighty hump

2015-08-31T09:46:00.000+08:00

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's Aug. 31 edition)
College standings as of Aug. 30
Team W D L P GD
USJR 3 - - 9 6
UC   2 1 - 7 5
UV   1 1 2 4 -5
USPF - 1 2 1 -2
USC    - 1 2 1 -3

IF THERE was one thing that highlighted the match between the University of San Carlos and the University of Cebu, which ended in a 0-0 draw, it's one that happened off field and not on it.

In the middle of the second half, Jules Villahermosa of USC lay hobbled and had to be carried off to the sideline, and while the focus of the USC coaching staff and bench players was on their side of the field, UC head coach Glenn Ramos got his pain reliever, sprayed some on Villahermosa and even massaged the USC midfielder's injured knee. He only stopped when the ball got to the UC side of the field.

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Ateneo ends Don Bosco unbeaten run in Cesafi

2015-08-30T07:32:00.003+08:00

(This report was published in Sun.Star Cebu's Aug. 30 edition)
College standings (As of Aug. 29)
Team W D L P GD
USJR 2 - - 6 +3
UC 1 1 - 4 +4
UV 1 1 1 4 -2
USPF - 1 1 1 -1
USC - 1 2 1 -3

SACRED Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu stripped Don Bosco Technological Center of its veil of invincibility with a 1-0 escape, while the University of San Carlos kissed it’s title defense goodbye in the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. football tournament at the Cebu City Sports Center.

SHS-Ateneo, which lost last year’s finals despite taking the lead against Don Bosco, now has six points on two wins but still trails rival Don Bosco on goal difference.

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Fair Play: Can USC recover from 0-2 hole?

2015-08-29T07:22:00.002+08:00

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's Aug. 29 edition)
LAST year, in the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. college football finals, the University of San Carlos passed a stringent test of character by overcoming a one-goal deficit to beat upstart University of Southern Philippines Foundation via shootout.

This year, the defending champion is 0-2 in its first two games, and in the lone half that I was able to watch, I was impressed with how the Golden Booters seem to toy around the University of the Visayas--the Cesafi’s presumed whipping boy--before taking a 1-0 lead at halftime.

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Fair Play: A preview of the 2015 Cesafi football finals.

2015-08-27T10:22:00.003+08:00

NO offense to the other teams, but we all know that when it comes to Cesafi high school football, the title is almost always a battle between two schools--Don Bosco Technological Center and Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu.

If I remember it right, both teams have won three titles each at each other’s expense since 2010, and each final is always fierce but played fairly. Both teams, too, have their own solid following from their alumni who always turn up for the matches. In last year’s final, Sacred Heart took the lead in the first half but conceded two goals in a three-minute span in the second to lose, 2-1.

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Fair Play: Unity bodes well for Cebu football

2015-08-26T05:51:00.000+08:00

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's Aug. 26 edition)
RECENT developments in the political landscape in Cebu, reminded me of a time when local football, even Philippine football, was like that; when swing votes were crucial and the numbers game was all that matters.

Hardly would a PFF president warm his seat when he faces an ouster movement, or in the case of Cebu, disgruntled members would be plotting their numbers years before the election.

Now, brave is the soul who would challenge PFF president Nonong Araneta, while CFA president Ricky Dakay is enjoying unprecedented unity in the board, too.

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Fair Play: Football restores DBTC's tattered Cesafi image

2015-08-24T08:27:00.002+08:00

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's Aug. 24 edition)
THE University of San Carlos avoided an off-field embarrassment only to stumble on-field in the opening round of the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. football tournament at the Cebu City Sports Center last Saturday.

The defending champions faced the prospect of having their first game forfeited because the Golden booters still didn’t have their new uniforms! And Cesafi rules bar a team from playing sans a uniform, as what the CEC Dragons learned in volleyball against the SHS-Ateneo de Cebu. How embarrassing, losing a game because you don’t have uniforms.

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Fair Play: What the UAAP, NCAA can learn from Cesafi

2015-08-22T11:17:00.003+08:00

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's Aug. 22 edition)
THE residency rule in school leagues is one rule that I really disagree with and wish that would be abolished. What’s worse is that the school leagues seem to copy each other’s moves and here in Cebu, the Cesafi is no exception, having extended the one-year waiting period to two when the Manila leagues extended theirs.

Now, the UAAP is in the news again, for all the wrong reasons and this time, the Cesafi is spared because this is a case where the Cebu-league has done it right and the Manila leagues should follow its example.

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Fair Play: Who's your bet in Cesafi football?

2015-08-20T10:15:00.000+08:00

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's Aug. 20 edition)
THE Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. football season opens this Saturday, and unlike last year’s edition, this year’s competition promises to be an exciting affair due to a new format.

Last year had a semifinal round after the group stage, and tournament director Francis Ramirez has done away with that for this year in the college division.

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Fair Play: Erco ain't a brag, I know

2015-08-19T10:15:00.000+08:00

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's Aug. 19 edition)
A FEW days ago, I was surprised to read an online post from Erco manager Rodney Orale, who was incensed by insinuations that the team fell flat in the finals after bragging they’d win.

I was surprised; not only because the usually mild-mannered Rodney shares harmless posts on social media, but also by the thought that Erco was bragging it would win the final, because the team didn’t.

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Fair Play: Are 2 corporations fighting over Gilas?

2015-08-17T09:36:00.007+08:00

(This is my Fair Play column for Sun.Star Cebu's Aug. 17 edition)
MINUTES after our failed bid for the Fiba World Cup hosting, I heard Quinito Henson talking about how the target now is to aim for the title in the Fiba Asia men’s championships in China and that we should focus all our energies on that.

I was on my way out when I heard that and I couldn’t help but scoff. “Why talk about championship when we can’t even form a national team?”

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