Send our Boys Abroad

Etheridge, Gier, Younghusband, Schrock, Jonsson. Here are some of the names of the side we fielded to meet Kuwait in the 2nd leg of the Fifa World Cup qualifiers. None sound Filipino. None play their football in our country. Yet I hear no one complaining that they should represent the Philippine team, who have done our nation proud. Why should anyone complain? These five and a couple of others - Greatwich, De Jong, Hinrich, Ott, Burkey - are part of the reason why the Philippine Azkals have been named the 2nd most improved side in the world.

Not that anything about this should strike you as strange. Around the world, you see the same trend. Here's the French football team. Count the number of players that appear French. How many of these players still play in France? I don't think any of them, except the goalkeeper, does.

In 2003, top English football club Arsenal went on a record-breaking unbeaten run of 38 games -- an unbeaten season in the English Premier League, where competition is fiercest. The side was dubbed the "Invincibles." The team was composed of all foreigners, except two.

It's a world of globalized labor we live in and the benefits can be most clearly seen in football. The migration of talent allows tantalizing sides like Barcelona, Manchester United, Real Madrid, and AC Milan to develop. It is this same process that allows Younghusband, Schrock, Etheridge and others to grow into the stars they are for the Philippine side.

There are questions now on how we can make the Philippine side stronger for upcoming competitions. I am surprised no one has suggested this before: I say send the best of our boys to play in clubs abroad. It will do them and our country good.

(Thanks for Corrine Elum, who sent me the list of players)