5 Pinoy booters Indonesia-bound for Allianz Asian Camp

MANILA, Philippines — Five young footballers are set to fly to Bali, Indonesia next week to take part in the Allianz Junior Football Asian Camp.

FC Malaya's JM Mitra, Tuloy sa Don Bosco's Michael Antillo and Archie Dela Cruz, Iloilo's Konrad Keim Sollurin and Cordillera Goshen Land's Aeron Christian Tenollar will represent the country after being chosen in the National Youth Futsal Cup (NYFC) organized by Allianz, Philippine Football Federation (PFF) and the Henry V. Moran Foundation last May.

The camp will feature a four-day football training program that will focus on a player’s fitness, footwork and tactical skills.

Premier German football club FC Bayern Munich will facilitate the camp, and players will train under Bayern Munich youth coach Maximillian Knauer and Giovane Elber.

Elber is a retired Brazilian striker who scored close to a hundred goals for Bayern during his six-year stint with the team.

Allianz PNB Life branding communications and digital director Rei Abrazaldo said they invested in football, instead of the more popular basketball, because their values are the same.

"It teaches kids, in the age of modern technology na halos sa isang pamilya hindi na nag uusap-usap, panay gadgets na," he said.

"But when you are in the field, you have to make sure that you work as a team plus your self-discipline."

Out of the five players, only two will be given the chance to participate in the global youth camp in Munich, Germany.

Coach Jess Landagan will lead the five-player delegation in the fifth Asian JFC.

Landagan said that while he believes the footballers have a strong chance of making it to the Global youth camp, he expressed concern with the cohesiveness of the team.

"May isang araw kami na magkakasama-sama. It's the time na mag practice kami and emphasize ko na lang sa kanila ang bonding and team work na pwede mabuo sa maiksing panahon na pagsasama namin."

Among other achievements, Landangan is known for steering the first Filipino football team to beat a Brazilian team in the Deloitte-Street Child World Cup in South Africa in 2010.