One more time, I could never get enough.

October 4, 2011 was the last day of the Long Teng Cup 2011. My family, friends, and I got to the World Games Stadium at around 4:15pm after an immensely boring day at school. Unfortunately all the front row seats were taken, so we had to settle for one of the middle rows.

 

I was more than thrilled when I found out that Jeff Christiaens was starting in the game, so we were rooting for him whenever he got the ball. He really impressed in this game since he was there when needed in defense and hustled back on offense when they were in possession of the ball. However, our team wasn’t able to score any goals during the first half, which bummed us out because they needed at least 6 points in order to get 1st place. I felt that they were better than 3rd place so I really wanted them to score some goals. Half time kicked in faster than usual so my friends and I decided to take some awesome pictures in the stadium that now felt like home.

 Trust me, standing on those chairs really scares the crap out of you! We may look all pro in the pic and stuff, but we were all nervous out of our wits, hoping that the seats wouldn’t snap back and make us fall. That’s me, Jamie, and Kerstin by the way (from left to right). Kerstin and I play defense in our team (she’s left, I’m right side D) while Jamie plays some midfield and subs in for the goalie at times.

 

That’s Take, also a good friend. He plays for our guys school soccer team as a forward. He’s super skilled - during our varsity ACAMIS tournament last year, his back got injured, but he still played the next game and scored 2 goals. Reminds me of Chieffy!

 We went down to the front row (where, apparently, we weren't not allowed to sit in during the game because Taiwanese guards are so freakishly restricted and only allowed around 2 columns to be used for seating -.-) to take more pictures and to see what the subs were doing on the field.

 

This took around 3 takes in order for Take to finally get the right timing. Jumping for the love of soccer <3 (Yes, I get cheesy at times, please bare with it XD)

 The railing looked a bit too Titanic-like for us XD Mom and bro told us later on that a lot of people were staring and giggling at us while doing this. Haha!

 

Take made me write “Azkals” on the shirt before, so I took the liberty of writing some other stuff, as well as Jamie… haha!

 The 2nd half begins. My friends and I decide to stand in the front row stair place to get a better view. During this half, the Filipinas around us asked me where I was from, then I started speaking tagalog to them, saying that I’m from the Philippines. They thought I was half Taiwanese, half Filipina, but I told them I was pure :) Then they proceeded to be happy about that and included me in their funny conversations. lol, it was pretty nice of them!

Chieffy was put in the 2nd half and they kept Jeff there for midfield alongside Chieffy! He scored 2 beautiful goals, which lead to a win by the Philippines. It was glorious. After our last big applause, we decided to go outside and wait for the Azkals beside their bus. As usual, we were having a blast and having fun amongst ourselves by talking about school and teasing each other randomly. Of course we took a lot of pictures which consists of failed jump shots due to timer issues. Lots of laughter though! Then we found out that the Azkals were still watching the Taiwan vs Hong Kong game so we went back to the stadium and walked up to the 2nd floor just for the fun of it.

 The view from up there? Absolutely breath-taking! It felt so high up though, I got a bit scared.

 Ahh the view <3 Look at the hyped up Taiwanese and Hong Kong fans. I just adore the architecture of this stadium. Cheers to Taiwan for maintaining it so well!

 

My signature “I was here” photo!

Us watching the game with our last cup of milk tea. Fun fact: while this picture was being taken through timer mode, a worker from the stadium was telling us that we weren’t allowed to be up there. Lol! Good thing none of us moved, or else the picture wouldn’t have been good. But you know how we seniors are…we still stayed there for quite some time then went half way downstairs and still watched from the staircase view.
We ended up going downstairs and sitting where we’re really supposed to be seated. This time we were able to sit in the front row. We saw our high school principal and her husband and waved at them. After the Taiwan vs Hong Kong game finished (Hong Kong dominated 6-0), we stayed for the awarding ceremony. Not much people were left but Take and I started screaming to the Azkals waaaay across the field, “AZKALS!!!!”, “PHILIPPINES!!!”. We didn’t think they would hear it since only the 4 of us were shouting. Then suddenly we hear a faint call of “Philippines!!”. We look across the field and see the Azkals screaming, so we screamed back saying “PHILIPPINES!!!!!!” and started waving our arms like crazy. Much to our surprise, they started waving back and screaming “PHILIPPINES!!!”. That was so cool! The awarding ceremony started and Chieffy Caligdong won the Golden Boot Award (most goals scored) and the Philippines claiming our place for 2nd. The Kaholeros were screaming the chants while we screamed back. When the whole thing finished, we were pretty much convinced that we weren’t going to be able to take pictures with the Azkals anymore since they’d board the bus before we actually catch up…

 …but we were WRONG!!! The heavens have granted us the chocolate we needed to make our sundae complete (sorry, but the whole ‘cherry on top’ concept was starting to bore me XD). I was able to shake Chieffy Caligdong’s hand and congratulate him for his great performance, which was proceeded with me shaking Jeffrey Christiaen’s hand while saying “good game”. I asked him if he could take a picture with us, and luckily, he agreed :D

 

Since Jamie and Kerstin took their place beside Jeff in the group picture, I decided to ask him for another picture of just him and me (yes, I have become a huge fan - it was hard not to be! He was so good!). It slipped my mind that my camera was still on a 10-second timer, so he and I were stuck like that for around 11 seconds and were able to take 2 pictures. Moments in life when you start thinking things are too good to be true o.o

 

Then I took a picture with Reymark Fernandez, who looks so much like our friend Michael!

 We spotted Carli later on, the very impressive defender (#14). I wanted to talk to him about defense and ask him for some helpful tips or reminders, but too much other fans kept hogging him, depriving me of asking him anything at all.

After Carli, we saw Angel, who was also surrounded by fans. But then…I saw Roland Muller and I was like, “ROLAND MULLER!!”. My friends and I just started running to him lol. All of us (including Take) are huge fans of Muller since he was such a hero in the Taiwan vs Philippines game. Especially Jamie, who is now a die hard fan of his. :D He was really nice and even asked Kerstin where she was from. When she said she was from Germany, they started engaging in a German conversation. I guess that was Kerstin’s “too good to be true” moment that night!

Last picture we took was with James Younghusband. And yes, that was the highlight of the whole week and first few days of October. It was such a treat!!! Until now it’s all my friends and I talk about. Never mind the fact that my 18th birthday is tomorrow, if that week could be replayed, it would be such a wonderful 18th birthday present! Really, I’d suffer the perils of that wholesomely boring school day just to have the after school soccer game excitement rush back at me. When we got in the car, we all started screaming for all the awesomeness that just happened to our lives. Senior year has just gotten so much better than it ever has! After volleyball is over, I am so dedicating my sports time to soccer. I miss the field and the feeling of the ball on my feet and head. But till then, thanks to the Long Teng Cup for making this whole experience free, and I express all my gratitude to the sincere and accommodating attitudes of the Azkals. BEST. WEEKEND. EVER!!!

On October 1, 2011, my mom, brother, and I went to eat dinner at the Garden Villa Hotel. That's where the Azkals and other teams participating in the Long Teng cup stayed, so we got some pictures!

 In the buffet dinner where I was chickening out to go to the lobby with my bro and ask the Azkals for a picture. :P As for the guy at the back, I don't know which team he belonged to.

 Still chickening out...so I took this shot.

 At this point, my bro and I have passed the lobby, saw the Azkals lounging around, and kept walking on till the bathroom. Yeah...my bro kept insisting we should go them but whenever we got nearer, he'd keep turning back to me and saying stupid stuff like, "What?" or "What should we do?". -.-

 

Finally, after we approached them, I asked the stupid question, "Hi, are you the Azkals?" (my excuse was that I didn't see the word "Azkals" on their shirt yet and I wasn't that familiar with their names at the time lol). Then Mark Hartmann replies, "No, this guy is the real Azkal (points at Misagh), and this guy is the water boy (points at Jason de Jong). We have a really buff water boy."
Me: "...really...?" while thinking to myself that the Philippines would never send a water boy overseas.
Mark: "Yeah. And I'm the towel boy. I carry the towels."
Me: Riiiight, you guys are just kidding with me! Can we take a picture?
Misagh: Yeah, come sit here with us!
So my bro goes and takes a first shot with them, then I go to take the pic next.
Then Chieffy kindly tells us to go to the couch across them and take a pic with those guys, and we did.

 

We get to the next couch and my bro, again, sits with them and I take their picture. When it was my turn, someone else called them to take a group picture (in which Chieffy very nicely encouraged my brother to join), so I didn't get to take one with the people on that couch. But before leaving for the group picture, Jeffrey Christiaens, who was so cool, actually paid attention to me and told me to hold on. After that group photo, the others excitedly went ahead to the buffet dinner while Jeffrey came back to take a photo with me :D

 

Jeffrey Christiaens and me :) I didn't know how he played yet when we took this picture, but when he debuted in the Philippines vs Taiwan match, I was so amazed! He had a number of scoring opportunities and he did justice to his position of midfielder. I still really want to ask him why he passed the ball to Phil Younghusband instead of taking the shot himself - he was so close! Nonetheless, he's become someone I look forward to watching in future Azkal games. I am so thankful that he stayed to take the picture with me, it left a really good impression :)

 

Then we proceeded to dinner and stopped some players to take more photos. But then we didn't really want to be a disturbance to their pleasant evening, so we weren't able to take some pics with others. But look, it's Chieffy Caligdong!!! What an idol, he is so down to earth and was more than accommodating.

 

Bro and Phil Younghusband

 Me & James Younghusband

 Peek-a-boo! Still in the buffet after finishing eating.

On Sunday, October 2, 2011, I brought 3 of my close friends with me (who are also my soccer buddies [we play in our school team]) to watch the Philippines vs Taiwan game! They enjoyed it so much that they watched it again with me on Tuesday. Here are some pictures:

We arrived 2 hours early thinking that there would be a long line outside. Turns out we were wrong and we just entered right when we got there. We were able to get real good seats though! It also rained that day, so we were holding up our umbrellas while watching. 

After the game. Philippines and Taiwan tied 0-0.

I love that they come near the crowd and acknowledge their fans! It's such an admirable gesture :) They were the only team that did it too!

Jeffrey Christiaens - his debut game. He kinda grew on me since then :)

# 4. I wonder if that's really his preferred number.

And of course, Roland Muller! My friends and I are huuuge fans of him now. He played incredibly in all 3 games, especially in this Taiwan one - he saved so much! Ah, it was wonderful. He did so well!

I like it like that, yeah! One more time, I could never get enough.

Listening to: I Like it Like That by Hot Chelle Rae ft. New Boyz
It is just sinking in to me that it is another weekend, another Saturday. Last week at this day, I would be meeting the Azkals tonight. Gosh 5 days pass by too fast! To continue my previous blog post, I did end up going to all 3 of the soccer games that the Azkals played in the Long Teng Cup. The very last day was a memorable one, indeed! I was able to spend it with my very good friends, who are also in our school soccer team. Plus, the Philippines won against Macau 2-0; goals made by the very skilled Chieffy Caligdong. After that, we decided to wait for the Azkals outside near their bus, in hopes that we could take pictures with them. After around 35 minutes, we found out that they were watching the Taiwan vs Hong Kong match, so we decided to stick around and watch again. My friends and I adventurously went upstairs to see what the view of the field looks like from the upper level - it was so breath-taking (and made me a tad bit scared since it felt so high and my fear of heights started kicking in a bit)! We were caught by a patrolling guy that we weren’t allowed to be up there, so we went downstairs and sat in the front row, where we encountered the presence of some little kids from our school (one of guys is the son of our High School principal and IT teacher). Then we saw our principal and her hubby and waved at them for a while. Lol! Afterwards it was the awarding ceremony. My 3 other friends and I spotted where the Azkals were seated right across the huge field in a higher level of the bleachers, so we started screaming “PHILIPPINES!!!” and “AZKALS!!!” then waved our hands in huge gestures. Suddenly, we heard a faint scream of “Philippines” coming from across the field. The Azkals from waaaay across the field started screaming “PHILIPPINES!!!” and “PILIPINAS!!”. We screamed back and waved our hands, then they screamed back and waved their hands right back at us. What a cool moment!! The short awarding ceremony took place where Chieffy won the Golden Boot Award (scored most goals in the whole tournament) and the Philippines earned their place at 2nd! Just as everyone was leaving, we all thought that we wouldn’t be able to see or take pictures with the Azkals anymore…but we were wrong! When we got out of the stadium, heading to the parking lot, there they were, autographing stuff and taking pictures with their fans. And yes, fate led me to Jeffrey Christiaens :) I was able to shake Chieffy Caligdong’s hand while congratulating him (very firm, manly hand grip from him). Then I saw Jeffrey walking past so I congratulated him too and offered my hand, which he shook. I asked him for a group picture and then one with just me and him (like that of ours in the hotel lobby). My camera was on a 10-second timer during that picture, so it was really cool, but then I got nervous (again) at the end. But hey! At least I had more guts that night :) After Jeff left, we took pictures with Carli, the idol defender, and then spotted Roland Muller! Roland was so cool! He asked my German friend where she was from then they started speaking in German. The picture with James came next. It was such a great night to finish the whole Azkal weekend off! Now I shall live on that memory. So much for my last week being 17, eh? I promise, I will post pictures later!
Since I finally have a free Saturday to spare, I’m thinking of going to Costco later to FINALLY get my pictures printed! It’s been way too long! Till later, tumblrs <3 I’m turning 18 soon and I STILL don’t know what to do :P

The Azkal Ending to a Good Week & Month

Today was the first game of the Philippine soccer team (Azkals) against Hong Kong in the Long Teng Cup. LUCKILY the match happened to be in Kaohsiung, Taiwan and in a place that’s soooo near my house & my school! Did I mention they’re staying in the hotel right by my school? FINALLY something’s happening in this city :P Haha! The game was really thrilling since soccer’s way too awesome & our team was pretty good! The game ended with a tie, 3-3. It was really cool seeing a lot of Filipino supporters too(most of them were women & I guess their main purpose was for the looks of the players…haha), however they didn’t really know what was going on and the commentator had to explain some stuff to them. It’s all good though cuz soccer’s a pretty new sport in the Philippines so they’ve got much more to learn. I was pretty much shouting “BETTER DEFENSE!!! MAN-ON, NO TURN, NOTURN!! DON’T KICK IT OFFSIDE!!! HELP HIM OUT, HE’S ALONE WITH THE BALL TRYING TO SCORE A GOAL!! HELP HIIIIIM!!!” hahaha :D
Honestly, it felt really great skipping volleyball practice to see a live soccer game and supporting your own country. Pinoy pride! Seeing this match really wrapped up the end of the school week :)

(My favorite photo of the bunch).

This whole experience was free. All you had to do was hand over 5 receipts you've acquired during the past 2 months, then you can enter the stadium and sit anywhere you want. I hope to be doing this 2 more times!! <3