Three takeaways from Tito Jay: The new era of PMNT with Saintfiet at the helm

Photo Credits: The Philippine Football Federation

A new day, a new hope, and a new life is upon us with the appointment of Tom Saintfiet as the Philippine Men's National Team head coach despite receiving offers from African powerhouse footballing nations Nigeria and Cameroon as well as Asian football giants China.

Before the announcement of the Philippine Football Federation, fans were asking whether the FIFA World Cup qualifying cycle would continue under Hans Michael Weiss' guidance as they were able to string a couple of decent results in the previous international window keeping Vietnam to just two goals and holding the fort against rivals Indonesia.

However, with the result of the recent PFF Extraordinary Congress that saw John Gutierrez rise from being the silent but pragmatic general secretary of the Bukidnon Football Association, change was just inevitable. Hoping to shuffle the cards from top to bottom, Gutierrez appointed PMNFT legend Freddy Gonzalez as the Director of National Teams, more specifically, to manage the country's men's national football team.

Despite the difficult task ahead of him, Gonzalez took on the challenge with heads held high and full of hope that he could bring back the glory days of the men's national team. His first act as the director of national teams, build on the massive potential that the country has starting with the FIFA World Cup qualifying window which would see a back-to-back matchup against the 2007 AFC Asian Cup champions Iraq first at the Basra International Stadium then a quick return leg at the Rizal Memorial Stadium on the 22nd and 26th of March respectively.

With all these being said and looking into the ambitions that the new administration of the PFF has, let's now dive into Tito Jay's five takeaways from this massive move for the men's national team.

Time to shine for the local talents

With Tom Saintfiet's appointment as the national team's gaffer, we are now being provided with a new set of eyes to scout our local talents and have them represent the country which, we believe, is long overdue. There's nothing wrong with relying on our foreign reinforcements but it defeats the purpose of having a local league.

In Southeast Asia, the Philippines has been part of what seems to be an inside joke within the region due to its reliance on foreign talents instead of forging the ones at home and using them on the battlefield. Countries like Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand often see the setup of the Philippine Men's National Team as somewhat ludicrous considering how much talent we have in the Philippines Football League.

Given the fact that our neighbors produced a lot of talents from their local leagues, Nguyen Quang Hai from Vietnam, Egy Maulana from Indonesia, and Supachai Chaided from Thailand to name a few, the banter is somehow expected from them. These players are just within an average age of 25 years old which can be considered at the peak of their age bracket.

Over the last 12 months, the Philippines Football League contributed seven players to the national team pool, and only five of them played while the rest were kept on the bench. These players were Chester Gio Pabualan, Jared Peña, and Andres Aldeguer against Chinese Taipei last June 19, 2023, while Finn McDaniel and Dennis Chung featured in the match against Jordan last March 28, 2023.

Fast forward to 2024, right after Saintfiet's appointment, the number of local players rose to a whopping 32. While this is a welcoming improvement, this next fact will bring a wider smile to our faces. Nine, yes, nine of these 32 players are coming from the UAAP participating squads which means that not only does the new coaching staff of the Philippines want to focus more on the talents on home soil but also they can see a bright future from our collegiate players.

Saintfiet said, "My experience in national team football is that it's not always the best players who win games. It's personality and commitment. Playing for your country is the highest you can achieve." This just gives us the feeling that while the level of competition that our reinforcements from abroad will also be considered, it will now be a test of who truly wants to represent the country so bad they are willing to shed tears and blood for the motherland.

What struck me the most was when he said, “We are looking at dynamic young people who can use our team as a jumping place to reach higher goals,” it got me thinking, if Saintfiet is willing to give a collegiate player a chance to play for his country and kickstart his career from there, it only means we can unearth those precious gems without wasting their time proving themselves to the clubs and earn their mettle while playing for flag and country.

Be ambitious while being cautious

Many football programs in the world get what we call a chance of a lifetime and after a few years, go back to square one as if nothing has happened. In the Philippine men's football team's case, it's painful to say that we are currently in that position.

The rise of the PMNT started when coach Simon Mcmenemy and his wards shocked an entire nation with their two-nil victory against Vietnam which is dubbed the Miracle in Hanoi. Despite missing out on the AFF championships several times, fortune still favored us with the country's maiden appearance in the AFC Asian Cup.

However, after that rise came the hardest of the falls, and what's worse is that it happened in increments. First, the pandemic hit, followed by three years' worth of uncertainty after the PMNT shuffled through six different coaches within those three years. Two of those coaches returned for another chance with the Philippines with Thomas Dooley and Weiss where the latter got the better results but still left the people asking for more.

Under Saintfiet's tutelage, it is expected that he'll be around until the end of Gutierrez's term which means he'll be here for at least one World Cup cycle and we all know what happens if a coach stays for that kind of cycle. This is like taking a page of the book from the Filipinas but with more emphasis on the local talents.

The federation is also taking a cautious approach to achieving its ambitions of making it to the World Cup by setting the best achievable title, the AFF championship. I don't know how many times we've mentioned this in our podcast but for the Philippines to be successful in the men's football side, we have to set a realistic goal.

Gonzalez said, "I'm here to win things. We want to win things. We want to win the Mitsubishi Cup. Maybe it's now, maybe it's in two years. Now that's a goal that we can say is quite achievable.

While it is good to always aim for the Asian Cup appearance after we've had a taste of it, winning the regional title should still be the priority for the PMNT. Why? If we can't win the title in our region against powerhouses Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia, who all had fantastic runs in the recently concluded 2023 AFC Asian Cup, what would we look like if we make it again in the Asian Cup against the best of the best in the continent?

We've ranked the highest among all the other Southeast Asian nations in 2018 but without a silverware to brag about. Now that we are down to fifth in Southeast Asia, it's about time for us to start climbing back up while doing our best to get our hands on that elusive AFF championship trophy.

This is a project, not a job

Being a national team head coach doesn't only mean that you are leading a country to a certain competition but it also means that you are also part of shaping the football landscape of the country that you are leading, and for Saintfiet, he found the perfect project with the PMNT.

"I was in need of an ambitious task -- a project," said the Belgian, and boy did he land a very promising project. Through the years, the Philippines has seen a rise in the level of competition within the country and it's becoming more clear that the pipeline towards the national team doesn't only come from overseas or the local leagues.

Before his announcement, Saintfiet was already seen scouting some talents in the UAAP which is a testament to his dedication to the project laid out in front of him. Prospecting players between the ages of 16 to 24 for the national team seemed to be a thing only being done overseas but it has finally landed on our islands.

Saintfiet took a lowly African nation Gambia from being minnows in 2018 to a history-defining quarterfinals appearance in the 2021 African Cup of Nations against tournament hosts Cameroon and held them to a goalless first half before succumbing to a two-nil defeat.

He even started with a shock 1-1 draw against Algeria on July 18, 2018, before giving the Gambia a 1-nil win against Angola on the 25th of March 2021 and finishing first in Group D and qualifying for the 2021 AFCON for the first time in the country's history.

That was a difficult task but Saintfiet proved that a system that is followed is a system that works and now that he's with the Philippines, all we have to do is to trust in his process and help him do great in this project. "If everyone is onboard and believes in this project, I'm sure we will be ready to compete with the best in Asia and we will be there in 2027 for the (AFC) Asian Cup," said Saintfiet.