Football Fever

I should just rename this blog to something along those lines - almost all the articles I've written so far are all about the beautiful game and that may be the reason why I am fond of it.

It is more than a month ago that I witnessed a great revival in the sport when Spain brought down Germany in the Euro. As much as I am a great fan of the Spanish League more than the English Premier or the Italian League I never really followed the ascent of the Spanish team led by Iker Casillas. It was when they were slowly climbing and beat the Italian team through a penalty shoot-out when I realized that I missed a lot, but that never stopped me from watching the next few games with so much zeal. At the height of it, a lot of old players came back to the pitch in the week that followed and our Sunday skirmishes became just a tad serious.

I even had the opportunity to play futsal, once more, after several years of begging of it because of an old injury. There was, at the least, something to look forward to after work and in the weekends.

The news of an inter-agency football tournament had given inspiration to a few of my comrades on the pitch to form an All-Star assemblage. BBDO, O&M, Saatchi and DM9 had enough players to form their own teams, but there was enough still to go around to form an team composed of players from other agencies who didn't have a team to call their own.

Squatters United had been born, comprised mostly of players from McCann and individuals from J. Romero, JWT, TBWA and mine - eventually we held on to the name until we got a sponsor to help us with our finances. We entered the tournament as Impaq Interactive, and while most thought of us as the favorites, we really considered ourselves as underdogs. And for a team that hasn't played regularly and only knew each other for less than a week, I'd say that we did pretty good.

Our first game with Saatchi, my old agency, was tied - I thought at the end that we would get the better of them but having the first-game-of-the-day-jitters got to us. We were tense for the next few games and we still haven't played enough games for us to gel like most of the teams.

We shared our second game with BBDO and it was there that we lost our first - owing their victory to smarter plays and height difference in which we were lacking. Our next game with Ogilvy gave us our second defeat and when we returned to our bench, we promised ourselves not to lose hope because we were going to go against DM9, the only team so far that hasn't lost.

The DM9 team played fast with three forwards and one able full back. It was harder for the opposing team to play offensively against them, because they always scored first and when they do the opposing team would always start to panic.

I remember Jake Tesoro, from TBWA, who blurted out loud while waiting for our turn with DM9 that we will be the only team that would beat DM9. He said it confidently and me being the realist that I am, didn't think much about it.

Perhaps it was Miguel Mercado's determination or Celine Lopez' commanding presence in the pitch or the thought the we didn't want to end that day without a win that made us realize that we could actually do what Jake had suggested.

We had scored first against DM9 and that broke their confidence. All we had to do was to hold on to our defense for as long as possible. Celine was with me on defense, and Miguel (I really can't remember which one, because we have three Miguels and two of them from McCann) doing brilliant work as the substitute goalkeeper. We had won our only game, much to the disappointment of Ogilvy who was now tied with us. Saatchi had defaulted their last game after losing their players to injuries.

Our victory didn't stop there, though, we had to break our tie with Ogilvy and the organizers had allowed us to have a penalty shoot-out instead because the last game was reserved for the BBDO and DM9 - they had to play for first place when DM9 lost to us.

We chose Mel, Caloy and Celine (all from McCann) to be the strikers during the shoot-out while Miguel will continue goal keeping duties. Pepper, from Ogilvy, completely missed the goal on their first strike against us. We designated Mel to be our first striker, and while she missed her first, she was given another opportunity because she had kicked the ball before the whistle was blown. When the signal was given, Mel delivered beautifully. And we all stood at the back cheering joyously. Isa, Ogilvy's Team Captain and second striker had struck on-goal, but Miguel was too fast, too quick. Caloy was our second striker, but he wasn't able to deliver as well. Ogilvy's last chance fell on Mike and if he was able to get a goal past Miguel, it would be Celine's job to save our asses. Fortunately, Miguel tapped the ball upwards and away from the goal which earned us our second victory and getting the Third Place in the competition.

Not bad for a team that really hasn't spent enough time on the pitch, I said. It was enough for me, that day. I had found new friends, rekindled old relationships and found love on the pitch where the beautiful game was played.

The last game between DM9 and BBDO was watched with as much enthusiasm as the final game between Spain and Germany. Everyone had picked a side to cheer on and most of my team members had chosen DM9, probably because they were the dark horses of the tournament. We realized in the end, that we probably broke their confidence and after losing one goal to BBDO everything shattered - they were tired and they were desperate. In the end, BBDO got another goal through DM9 and I just had to stand up and clap for the ones who tried their best to hold on.

So much drama, this beautiful game can conjure. In the end, there were no red or yellow cards drawn - it was a tournament between friends, and rivals who respected each other's skills on the pitch. And while BBDO and DM9 got the most praises that day, I got more, I believe.

New friends. A slightly shot right knee and a bad sunburn. One out of three ain't that bad, right?