KENNETH PORIO | the blog

Filipinos have been keeping their eyes glued to football (or soccer) these past few months after the senior national football team, the Philippine Azkals , grabbed local, national and international headlines since their miracle victory in Hanoi, Vietnam during the AFF Suzuki Cup 2010. Fans, supporters, sponsors and funds started to pour in from all sides since then, and changed the Pinoy 's world-view of football forever. Although the Azkals recently failed to qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, football fanatics in the Philippines continued to believe that football is being reborn and being cultivated as it was overshadowed by basketball in the past century. High hopes have been made for football to make ground in the country, and it will start with the improvement of local leagues and grassroots development, and the increasing media coverage of local and international football leagues to the Pinoy masses. At this time of posting, Filipino footie fans are now keen i...

I should have stopped the Azkals Accents series a few posts back . But, there are still a lot of people I want to commend with with their accents, or their manner of speech. As I said here, being a cultural melting pot, Filipinos have to embrace everyone's accent, and not ridicule it. I want to commend first the "Iceman," Ray Anthony Jónsson , a Filipino-Icelandic. For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV In this above video during their 2nd leg match vs. Indonesia in the AFF Suzuki Cup semis last year, I watched the interviews of Oxford-speaking Rob Gier, Dutch anglophone Jason de Jong and Estuary-speaking Neil Etheridge. But what caught my attention is Ray Jónsson, who spoke in Cebuano . He may be born from an Icelandic father (a rare feat in fact; you won't find a lot of Fil-Icelandics out there), but he got the privilege to learn Cebuano when he lived in Liloan, Cebu until age 8 because of his Cebuana mother. Around in the m...

Here's a repost from a Tumblr log about comparing the Philippine National Football Team, the Azkals, and the Philippine National Dragon Boat Racing Team, the Dragon Warriors: Why compare NT Azkals to the Dragon Boat Team▬crab mentality strikes These past few days,I’ve seen some posts about the  comparison between Azkals and Paddlers . It’s getting viral;from twitter,facebook and now here in tumblr. I just don’t get it when they compare those two  different  Sports Team . It goes like Sasagwan ka ba sa karangalan o sisipa sa papogian? PH Dragonboat team (2011)  : 5 Golds, 0 commercials, 90% Pinoy Azkals  : 0 Golds, 0 trophies, 5 TV ads, 20% Pinoy this issue is really getting into my bones!! Azkals didn’t got this far because of their looks  alone ,for your information they went from nothing;nothing as in NOTHING.  1st of all ,its not easy for a football team to get a gold medal.I mean in football they have lo...

Hello there! As I am about to finish my studies in UP Mindanao, I am to develop a system that should contribute to the software development community and the I.T. community in general. While I've been appreciating the Philippine National Football Team , known more as the Azkals , I've been very busy on how I'll be taking more opportunities of improving myself as a future changemaker in the IT industry through my studies. During the past few months, I've been already thinking on what I want to do for my Special Problem. Then I've been thinking more of our University's student publication, Himati . Right there and then, I was already thinking of a system that would help the publication improve its coverage and its reach to the UP community and beyond. During the previous semester, for our CMSC 128 (Software Engineering) class, I developed a Publication Content Management System for the publication. (Seen on the above image). The system intended to hel...

This is the 3rd installment of posts regarding the accents of the Philippine Azkals. Click for the 1st post and the 2nd post . On my previous post, I talked about the Estuary English of Neil Etheridge , Phil Younghusband and James Younghusband , the Californian accent of  Anton del Rosario , the Dutch manner of speaking by  Jason de Jong , and Persian cliques of Misagh Bahadoran. By now, let's cure more of your curiosity. Many wonder how the recent goal-maker for the team, Fil-German midfielder Stephan Schröck , and the German coach Hans Michael Weiß (pronounced as /'vaisz/, also spelled Weiss)  speak English. Well, I wondered, too, how they speak when I first heard of them. Luckily, I found a video from a TV Patrol report. (Last interview clip shows James Younghusband, the Middlesex boy.) Anyhow, Stephan, while having a deep but sharp, gritty voice, has a thick German accent. His glottals and dipthongs are typical of a south German (He hails from Für...

Angel Guirado Aldeguer hugs a crying Misagh Bahadoran after their loss to Kuwait on 28 July 2011. (interaksyon.com) It's finally over. Their dream to reach the 2014 World Cup has finally come to a heartbreaking but inspiring  end. After a 5-1 aggregate in favour of Kuwait, all hopes broke down as the Philippine National Football Team  or the Philippine Azkals  bowed down to Middle East superpower the Kuwait Al-Azraq for the home leg of 2nd round of the World Cup 2014 qualifiers . Although a glimmer of hope was lit as German 2nd Division Bundesliga midfielder Stephan Shroeck  striked a 25-yard goal at the last minute of the 1st half, it was backfired by goals by Yousef Naser and Waleed Jumah on the 2nd half. Indeed, it was not yet their time. How heartbreaking their loss be, the cheering Filipino audience at the Rizal Memorial Stadium never stopped chanting "Azkals! Azkals!" in support of their national team, together with a standing ovation. It was neverth...

"Football hooliganism is unruly and destructive behaviour—such as brawls, vandalism and intimidation—by association football club fans."- Wikipedia I do not know  ( yet )  how  to play football (soccer in the US). I intended to enroll on a PE course of football in where I am studying, but my schedules and finances didn't allow me to. I watch football every time CNN or BBC reports about some team/club plays against this team/club. I am actually bored at the constant wins of Manchester United on the English Premier League , or how national teams played head on during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa (which I religiously followed via CNN's extensive coverage). But my journey to be a follower for football skyrocketed when the Philippine national football team a.k.a. the Azkals  qualified for the semi-finals in the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup. The Azkals led me to know that the Philippines, known to be religious in basketball and boxing, can compete in this world-famous ...