The Philippine national football teams have come together under one management and a notable change in direction is to have a more unified identity of what to expect when a Filipino football team takes the international stage.
In a press conference introducing the newly-minted Philippine men’s football national team head coach Albert Capellas, Philippine National Team Director Freddy Gonzalez revealed his vision of the ‘Filipino way’ of playing football.
“We are tired of playing this cannonball football where we just sit back, stay behind, and long ball forward,” Gonzalez said. “Counter attack, hoping we get something out of it right?”
[Related: PH men’s football coach Albert Capellas recalls development of young Andres Iniesta in FC Barcelona]
The ‘cannonball football’ that Gonzalez referred to was the perceived way Filipino teams played in international play. Long forward balls from deep positions towards forward players, who were then expected to latch on to them to make something happen.
“That was the case with a lot of teams in the past, men's and women's,” he added.
“One of the things I have always wanted to do and one of the goals was really to change the way we play.”
The answer to Freddy was to encourage a more swashbuckling style of football, one that would result in a more action-packed style of forcing turnovers and attacking quickly on transitions.
In basketball parlance for those who need an inter-sports translation, it’s practically applying a more full-court press oriented defensive scheme to force turnovers and create easier scoring opportunities.
“We want to play a more up tempo, more attacking kind of game,” Gonzalez explained.
“Controlling the tempo of the game, controlling the match more, recovering the ball quickly, once we recover the ball, turning that into attacks right away. Fast transitions both offensive and defensive.”
According to Freddy, the Philippines have the materials to play in what he believes is the modern way of playing the game.
“I think that is how modern football is going and that's how really we should take advantage and play that way. Because we have the players, skills, and technical ability to do it,” he said.
Like-minded coaching
Freddy’s philosophy has led him to pursue the services of Albert Capellas to take the reins as head coach of the men’s national side.
Capellas has experience developing talent at FC Barcelona and found success as the manager of a promising Denmark U21 side.
The Spanish mentor was also influenced by coaching greats Pep Guardiola and Jordi Cruyff throughout his coaching journey.
“We believe we found the right guy, the right man,” Gonzalez said on Capellas’ appointment.
Capellas is eloquent when speaking about the way he wants his team to play, which is in step with Gonzalez’ vision for the national sides.
“I cannot play another way,” Capellas said. “If you think I will play defensively, then they have to fire me because that is not me.”
That way is to be more forceful and decisive in the pursuit of victories.
“We want to play offensive football, we want to attack the games,” Capellas said. “Try to win the games, we don't like to speculate just to be defending and waiting.”
Simply put, Capellas wants to chase maximum points in every match.
“I feel if you want to win, you really have to deserve it. And we want to use the 90 minutes plus the extra time to do our best to try to win the games.”
When it comes to the nitty gritty of tactics, you can record an entire podcast when Capellas explains his concepts and philosophy.
He can talk about his belief on controlling games to get wins in every phase of play for hours on end, but even Capellas admits there are levels of intricacy with regards to getting the product out on the field.
“It's complex,” Capellas admits. “But I always say it's very easy to play football, but it is very complex to play easy football.”
As for the women’s side, Gonzalez was candid with head coach Mark Torcaso when he expressed his displeasure with the defensive style of play the team has adopted.
With Gonzalez handling both the men’s and women’s teams, the transfer of expertise is more seamless with both Capellas and Torcaso in constant communication.
“We need to be a little bit more braver on the ball, confident on the ball,” Torcaso explained.
“Very similar to what coach Albert said, players have to have the confidence to want the ball but then to be able to do something positive with it.”
The women’s staff actually assisted Capellas in handling the men’s team in the recently-concluded Merdeka Cup in Malaysia after the sudden departure of former men’s head coach Tom Saintfiet.
It was through this collaboration that Torcaso and his staff got a jumpstart on how to adapt to the federation’s new marching orders.
“You'll see that in the upcoming tournament against Jordan and D.R. Congo, we are definitely going to see the girls be a little bit more expressive in what they can do with the ball and how they build up and scoring goals,” Torcaso said.
Torcaso highlighted the strong forward line of the Filipinas as a reason why this new way of playing could benefit the team.
“We know where we're dangerous, we're dangerous in that front third,” he said.
The Australian mentor particularly noted that Filipinas goal threats Sarina Bolden and Katrina Guillou are now playing at high levels in Italy and the USA, respectively.
“We got some really really strong players, Sarina is playing in one of the top leagues in Europe at the moment, Katrina is playing in the US.”
“These our key players for us in the front third, we want to show the world their talents.”
This shift comes with the admission from Torcaso himself that the Filipinas have been on the back foot in recent games, albeit against really high quality opponents.
[Related: Mark Torcaso sets clear goals for Filipinas during Pink Ladies Cup in Turkiye]
In the 2024 calendar year, the Filipinas have yet to register a win after going toe-to-toe with the links of Finland, Scotland, Slovenia, and South Korea.
“If I look at the last six months, 12 months we have been extra defensive,” Torcaso said.. “We have also played against teams where we had to be a little extra defensive.”
“But now it is our time to be a little more courageous and confident and expressive in particular in that front third,” he added.
Both men’s and women’s national teams won’t have to wait too long to see if this new philosophy can bring in the goals and the points in the short term.
[Related: PH men’s football team brings back Bundesliga winger Gerrit Holtmann for King’s Cup 2024]
The men’s national football team will see action in the King’s Cup in Thailand, where they will take on the hosts on October 11.
While the Filipinas will fly out to Antalya, Turkey, where they will take on Jordan and the Democratic Republic of Congo on October 26 and 30, respectively.