The Philippine men’s national football team encountered surprisingly tough opposition, but managed to salvage a 1-1 result in the first game of its World Cup qualifying tie against Sri Lanka at the Sugathadasa Stadium Wednesday in Colombo.

Nate Burkey tied the game for the Azkals with a header at the 50th minute, a follow-up to James Younghusband’s own header off a curling free kick by Chieffy Caligdong. The goal by Burkey, who came in at the 20th minute after Phil Younghusband injured his hamstring, prevented what would have been a massive upset for Sri Lanka.

Read on at InterAksyon.com

It’s our favorite naturalized Filipino (by a Marcos presidential decree) from Sri Lanka himself, Ronnie Nathanielsz!

I can’t really make a comment on ABS-CBN’s choice itself (considering I’ll soon be technically working for a television network too), although I’m sure you guys must just be thrilled.

Here’s some big news that would affect you, dear Fire Quinito reader: A couple of weeks ago, I accepted a job offer to head the new sports website for TV5.

Yeah, I don’t know what they were thinking either.

Continue reading "Important announcement"

If you missed it, here’s my report on Smart Gilas Pilipinas’ heartbreaking loss to Mahram of Iran last Saturday.

I wasn’t able to file a report for Sunday’s game, but Karl Decena, whom you might remember as the college student who wrote this excellent profile on Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao, filled in for me to write about the Philippine team’s loss against Qatar.

MANILA, Philippines - Spitfire guard Jayvee Casio floated like a butterfly and stung like a bee, and the SMART-Gilas Pilipinas national squad played rope-a-dope against Al-Jala’a of Syria in a come-from-behind 85-80 win in the quarterfinals of the FIBA-Asia Champions Cup at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City.

Casio was brilliant throughout the game, providing the only glimmer of light in an otherwise dim opening half that saw the Philippines trailing the Syrians, 34-41.

While Casio scored 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting in the first half, the rest of the team shot miserably, making the rim bleed by making just 11 of 32 field goal attempts.

Former NBA first round pick Samaki Walker, meanwhile, dominated his matchup against naturalized SMART-Gilas center Marcus Douthit early in the game, scoring 16 points in the first half for Al-Jala’a. Syrian hotshot Micheal Adanly added 14 points to fuel Syria’s hot start.

But it was a different story after the halftime break, as Casio, Douthit, Chris Lutz, and Japeth Aguilar conspired in a furious 10-4 run to start the third quarter. Aguilar’s three-point play with 1:37 gave SMART-Gilas a 56-55 lead that it would not surrender for the rest of the match.

Continue reading at InterAksyon.com

It’s serendipity that the man behind the Heat’s downfall today, Dirk Nowitzki, is German – just like the word Schadenfreude.

The last time Dondon Hontiveros was on the court against basketball players from Jordan, the game ended in heartbreak for millions of Filipino basketball fans. The Philippine national basketball team was defeated by Jordan in the 2007 FIBA-Asia Championship, slamming the door on the medal hopes of Hontiveros, his teammates, and his countrymen.

It’s unclear if the hotshot from Cebu still harbors any bitterness from that loss, but with his performance on Wednesday night, it wasn’t hard to imagine him carrying a chip on his shoulder. Hontiveros scored 23 points -- pouring in six three-pointers -- to lead SMART-Gilas Pilipinas to a hard-earned 76-74 victory over Applied Science University, which featured stars Sam Daghlas and Zaid Abbas, members of the Jordan team that beat the Philippines in 2007.

Continue reading at InterAksyon.com

QUARTERFINALS SCHEDULE
Friday, June 3

2 p.m. Lebanon (Al-Riyadi) vs. Iraq (Duhok)
4 p.m. Iran (Mahram) vs. Saudi Arabia (Al-Ittihad)
6 p.m. Philippines (SMART-Gilas) vs. Syria (Al-Jala'a)
8 p.m. Jordan (Applied Science University) vs. Qatar (Al-Rayyan)