Last Thursday (April 21, 2016) was a landmark day in the UAAP Season 78 Men’s Football Tournament. With their backs against the wall, defending champions Far Eastern University needed at least a draw against the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons in order to ensure qualification to this year’s Final Four.
Unfortunately for the Tamaraws, the Fighting Maroons were in no mood to do lay down for them, as they won the match 1-0 courtesy of a Kyle Magdato goal. The defending champions were out in the most surprising of ways, as many had expected them to win a third straight championship this season.
“Not everyday is Christmas. Personally when FEU is out of the top four, that’s one relief already. I’m not giving the other teams in the top four… telling them that it’s easy but as we all know the most talented team is FEU. For them not to be in the top four is a big deal already for us,” quipped De La Salle Green Archers head coach Hans-Peter Smit.
Nevertheless, to only focus on the Tamaraws’ elimination is to forget how competitive the Men’s division has been this Season 78. The top six teams have breached the 20 point barrier as FEU, the University of Santo Tomas, and the Ateneo de Manila University were still in Final Four contention before the aforementioned game. It must also be said that Ateneo and UST ended the elimination round level at 25 points, just one above FEU.
Smit said, “I’ve said it four years or five years ago. I’ve said competition in the Men’s and even the Women’s will continue to get better and better and better. I mean all the teams will get better. I think it’s the first time that middle of second round there were still six teams vying for (the Final Four). You never saw that. I think I’ve been the longest in the UAAP among all the coaches. I don’t think I’ve seen that up to the last day of eliminations. It’s really more exciting!”
Youth is the biggest factor for why the UAAP makes Smit excited. “The competition, the intensity, everybody’s really there to win. You could see the development of each and every one’s teams and players. This augments well for Philippine football,” he added.
One thing that Smit wanted to see was national youth team coaches scouting UAAP players. He felt that the talent pool was deep, and that even cellar-dwellers Adamson University and University of the East had talented players themselves. He added, “For me in total if we’re talking about football, I’m happy for the UAAP. Regardless if I win or not, I’m happy for the UAAP because it’s better than last year, last year was better than the previous year. It’s getting better and better.”
Adamson, Smit believed, have a good future in the UAAP, so much so that the veteran coach stated that they were “the next NU”. After Adamson, Smit was all praises for UST. “I’ve already said it two years ago (the Growling Tigers) are gonna be a team to look at. They lack a little bit more of some experience, but they’re a damn good team. If you talk about skill level, I’d say UST comes next to FEU and La Salle and all the rest are all the same.”
With added excitement comes greater pressure. Smit felt that the added pressure wasn’t only directed at coaches and players, but also the organizers of the tournament. He explained, “You know it’s not just for us but also for the different university communities because everybody knows the UFL is not all, the Azkals is not all, we need to go more televised games. I’m sure people would have seen watching the game, they’ll say this is a good show. The first game, UP-FEU, was a good game. Today regardless of the score, you can see tactical swings and skill levels and all these.”
In the end, Smit reverted his focus towards the Final Four, which will be held on April 28, 2016 (Thursday) at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila. UP will face UST in the earlier game, with archrivals La Salle and Ateneo squaring off hours later. “It’s just whoever wants to win it now in the top four so let’s see. One game at a time.” With three games left before Season 78 ends, expect more drama until the final whistle of the championship game.
