Here we go again.. AZKALS VS MALAYSIA!!!!! by Miguel Salvador

Here we go again! I am at another Azkals game where this time we are against Malaysia. Since this was my second time being here at Rizal Memorial Stadium, I already had my experiences of before that made me not expect too much about the glamor of being behind the scenes. But this time around, this experience was more fun than the game between Azkals and Icheon. Not only was the game better but the things happening in the Media Room was more exciting than my previous experience.

 

Sir Rick like a boss greeting the team

With sir Rick with us, we had more opportunities to see the players. He got us so close to them that we could almost hear them breathing...well of course I'm over exaggerating.  But it was a funny experience since i was with 4 other female classmates who got into their fan girl modes. The video above was one of the videos i took to show how close we were to them and this time around, i got star struck. This time, i knew more about the players and I wasn't as naive as before.

Photoboothing while idle

Still Photoboothing for fun! :P

This experience was more fun because there were more things for us to do. It may be a little more than the last time but i felt like i had more purpose this time around. This time around, not only were we tasked with registering the media people, we also had to ask the photographers to surrender their ID's to be given a bib with special powers that allows one to do more in the stadium than those who don't have it. I honestly don't know what the bib is for but i am assuming that it's to allow the photographers to come closer to the fields and such. During my past experience, we had more idle time because there were less people. Now, we just had enough time to have fun and do the work we were supposed to do because there was more people from the press to keep us busy. And once again, the media people were hilarious and made the whole work we have a lot lighter. Its really too bad i could not remember all their names but they will always be in my heart (there's like that?! hahaha!) Meeting a lot more people, and this time people who were top honchos in the press con area, was really intimidating. In the media room, there was a mixture of Filipinos, Malaysians, and Americans which made it feel like we were in the United Nations.

On the first half of the game, the Media Room was bursting with life already because of the goal made by Denis Wolf. I wanted to watch but my hunger was growling more than my interest for the game. But it was amazing to watch the writers in the media room jump for joy at first then dive into their laptops to create their articles.During at this time, what was actually happening was me and two of my classmates ate dinner while the other two went to watch the game with free tickets that was given to us.

There was a lot of people!

On the second half of the game, it was our turn to watch. I was really excited to because this would be my first time watching a live game of soccer. If you look closely in the picture, you could see me....just kidding. It was an exhilarating 2nd half. The ball kept going back and forth teams and there was a lot of attempted shots that kept giving us mini heart attacks. There were 2 instances that i could not forget in the 2nd half: one amazing attempt to shoot a goal by a player i forgot who and the amazing block of Neil Etheridge.

I really hate it that i forgot who made the shot but it was amazing because it was my first time to see a half somersault kick. What made it amazing was that i wasn't expecting a kick like that to happen because it was crowded and everyone was defended well. The other exciting moment was Neil Etheridge blocking, for me, an almost impossible shot. The ball was just an arm's length away and he was able to puch it out of its course in the nick of time. I was screaming like a fanboy who's been watching soccer forever. But ofcourse, the game ended with a tie and for me it was still a great game.

Malaysia Team Coach and player with sir Rick

Back in the Media Room, the Press Conference was ready to start and last minute reminders were being given. HUGE cameras were already set up and the place was getting warm because it was crowded with people. This was when i thought to myself that THIS was more like a press conference. You could feel the photographers eyes burning through the lenses of their cameras and writers scribbling in their notebooks. And as soon as the Malaysian Coach entered, everyone fell silent and the questions began.

Dennis Wolf, Coach Weiss, Sir Rick Olivares, Neil Etheridge , Jason Sabio

As the Azkals team came dripping in one by one (and as I collect the bibs dripping with sweat), the press showed more interest to question this team than the other. Actually, this also happened before against Korea and made me quite puzzled. Shouldn't we ask as much questions to the other team as well as our team? Well it may just be me who's complaining. There was a lot of good questions thrown in for the team and there was a couple of bad ones.

Once before i learned that there was such a thing as bad questions to ask during a press conference. During this press conference, i experienced, witnessed, and heard the most "wtf" question for a team. I suddenly understood what a stupid question was. The question basically asks the coach if the change of players during the last part of the game made a huge effect on the game to being a draw. Not only was my mouth open but my chinky eyes grew wide and felt embarrassed. The coach's reaction wasn't fun to hear to because you could hear the thunder in his voice (while on the other side of the table, Etheridge and Sabio was laughing and making fun of the situation. Kind of like when a little boy teases a younger sibling for being scolded! "NYE NYE!")

This experience has been a really great one. Compared to my last experience, there was more action, drama and suspense in this one. On a serious note, the very important things i should remember if i ever pursue journalism is research and critical thinking. Whatever branch of journalism it would be, research and critical thinking is what you need to truly flesh out the needed information needed to come out. Not doing so would be a huge waste of time and time for a journalist is of the essence and their careers are bound by time. On a lighter note, i did learn that there will always be time for fun even at the most serious of times (thank you Etheridge and other reporters and photographers for teaching me this).

As a last "field trip" for journalism class, i would have to admit this a great one. *not crying that this is the last*

Awww!