Suzuki Philippines, Inc. (SPH), the only integrated motorcycle and automobile company in the country, continues to solidify the thrust of competitive sportsmanship through football gaming in the Philippines, by giving its full support to the Philippine Men’s National Under-23 Football Team who will be heading for the 26th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Jakarta come next month.
“Since football is the most popular sport in the world, Suzuki clearly wants to capitalize on this foundation to be able to build a strong pool of young players that will carry the Filipino flag,” said Suzuki Philippines (SPH) president Satoshi Uchida. He furthers, “It will be the first time of the Philippines to play a football match since 2005 when it won one match. This year, we are expecting a more stalwart performance and we are hoping for the best.”
The junior Philippine Men’s National Football Team will tackle Vietnam on the third of November at the start of Group B tourney at the Gelora Bung Karno Station in Jakarta, straight from their boot camp in Gotemba, Japan. Out of the 25 athletes that PFF has sent out to exposure training in Gotemba, eight were products of the recently concluded PFF-Suzuki U-23 National Cup – three footballers coming from NCR, three from Negros Occidental and two from Iloilo.
Suzuki is no stranger in supporting the said sport. Aside from the abovementioned National Cup, the company has also been all out in supporting the Homegrown Heroes, namely Chieffy Caligdong, Ian Araneta, Yannick Tuazon, Paolo Pascual and Roel Gener.
Philippine Football Federation (PFF) President Mariano “Nonong” Araneta is also one with Suzuki Philippines on this vision. “The renewed interest in football on a national level is only the first step in developing this relatively new sport in the country – training comes next, then passion comes in,” says Araneta. He furthers, “We in PFF, appreciates all the efforts of SPH in elevating the sport to higher heights, and we are optimistic all this backing will only merit positive results.”
Below are the schedules of Group B, where the U-23 squad is clustered in:
November 3, 5pm VS Vietnam (Stadion Utama Gelora Bung Karno)
November 7, 5pm VS Timor Leste (Lebak Bulus Stadium)
November 11, 5pm VS Laos (Lebak Bulus Stadium)
November 13, 5pm VS Myanmar (Lebak Bulus Stadium)
November 15, 8pm VS Brunei Darussalam (Lebak Bulus Stadium)
