I really thought I jinxed the Smart Communications football team when I asked them for their names and designations within the telecommunications company before they started their championship game against Regus during the 9th European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) Football Cup in Nuvali.

Seated beside former Azkals player Armand del Rosario and having a front row view of the game, my jaws dropped all the way to the ground when a female player from Regus made a lucky goal on the first minute of the championship game.

You see, at the ECCP Football Cup, the rule in the Mixed Division is kind of unique, as a goal scored by a female player is equivalent to two points. So, it was 2­0, and Smart was looking at the barrel of the gun. Armand and I were shaking our heads in disbelief.

I had already started thinking then that this column would turn into an apology of some sorts to them. What was I thinking? There was still a game to be played and anything can happen.

Still, you cannot fault me for thinking that the championship would just be a walk in the park for Smart. The team was a joy to watch. Think San Antonio Spurs playing football instead of basketball, and you can already visualize how they play.

If how Smart played in the tournament is any indication of how its rank and file works every day, then its Asia Communications A\yards as the "Best Place to Work" among Asian telecommunication companies is much deserved.

Going back to the tournament, here is how Smart fared against the teams they met during the elimination, quarterfinals and semifinals rounds—4­0, 6­0, 6­0, 5­0 and 3­0. Do you see a pattern there? I will not even name the companies they annihilated. It is not good for them, I guess, to relive those moments.

One team that I would gladly mention, though, is Globe Telecom. Yup, that other telecommunication giant in the country. I just wished they had kept their end of the bargain during the tournament.

Globe finished second in its bracket and, had they won its quarterfinals, it would have been Smart versus Globe in the semifinals.

I was already getting so giddy about the scenario that I was kidding Armand to rig the games already and make sure that those two teams meet.

I was imagining Smart and Globe in those old western movies where the gunslingers talk tough before those mano a mano duels.

Smart: "We have 72 million subscribers. Beat that."

Globe: "But how many postpaid subscribers do you have?"

Smart: "We have the widest coverage in the country!"

Globe: "But the future is the data business, and it is ours to rule."

Smart: "The very popular Anne Curtis is our endorser."

Globe: "We have Bamboo. He is a great singer."

Referee: "Quit talking already, and let's play ball."

Oh, well, some things are just not meant to be. Maybe at another football tournament somewhere, these two telecommunications giant will meet again and sports fans, like me, would have a great time watching them slug it out on another field, literally.

The Mixed Division, by the way, should not take away the luster from the Men's Division, which is really supposed to be the main attraction of the tournament.

This year Maersk, with a lineup half-filled with Latin American players, from out of nowhere, won the championship over heavily favored teams like the Asian Development Bank, AGS Four Winds and defending champion Royal Cargo.

Here is my one centavo suggestion to the ECCP: seeing the dominance of Smart, how about we see next year the winner of the Mixed Division and the Men's Division slugging it out in a winner-take-all game? I mean if it was done this year, I am sure that Smart would have given Maersk all that it can handle. They were that good.

Oh, Smart, just in case you are still wondering, tied the championship game, 2­2, at the end of regulation and handily beat Regus in the penalty shootout 3­1. So there, I did not jinx them at all. That was a relief.

Congratulations again to the Smart football team, led by Mixed Division Most Valuable Player Yu Murayama, who is a retail sales supervisor in the sales department. He was joined by planning and engineering department head Patrick Belicena, sales supervisor Albert Francisco, infinity sales officer Juan Miguel Roy and Carla Poblador, operations engineer Keith Cabrera, SPD­IT analyst Ana Maraian Esguerra, operations supervisors Mark Dennis Ong and Elaine Orain, retail channel development supervisor Michael Adornado, wireless senior engineer Kristian Torralba and Rei Garcia, wireless senior supervisor Vic Villamin, and broadband marketing brand officer Ricardo de Guzman Jr.

I just hope I did not murder any of your names, and that I did not miss anyone.

During the tournament, I had the chance to have a good conversation at the sidelines with referee Roberto Hernandez. He was part of the 16­man group of referees who officiated the tournament.

He said they came from the Laguna Football Association of Referees, which is accredited by the Philippine Football Federation.

Hernandez dreams of one day officiating in the Asian level and, eventually, in the World Cup. But he said before he can get to that level, there are a lot of seminars to attend and he must officiate a certain number of Federation Internationale de Football Association (Fifa) and Asian Football Confederation (AFC) recognized tournaments.

Well, that might come true for him in the near term as, according to Armand, in two years, the United Football League will just become a Division II tournament, while a super league sanctioned by both Fifa and AFC will start in the country.

Armand said the yet­to­be­named super league will have 12 teams, will have province-based teams with private sponsorship, and it will be open to international players.

Armand said there are enough stadia in the country to have a home­and­away­ based league.

Indeed, bright days are ahead for football in the country.

Source: Business Mirror, 29 June 2014