“IT is convenient, for the purposes of analysis,” says the English novelist Martin Amis in an essay, “to look at the history of England managership since 1970 as a drama, or tragedy, in three parts or phases.”
For Amis, the common denominator of these phases is the “nervous breakdown” of three of the national team’s managers, (hence the title of his essay, “Football Mad”).
One can make sense of the history of Philippine football using Amis’ approach, from its downward spiral to its current struggle for redemption.
Enter Juan Cutillas, who, as one broadsheet commentator describes, had “seen the best and worst of Philippine football.” Who else would be in a better position to offer Filipino football fans a privileged historical perspective but the man, who at every turn, prescription on hand, appears to know every balm and tonic for the country’s football ills?
The problem is Cutillas didn’t just “see”; he played an active recurring part in that tragedy called Philippine football, either as manager or technical director. And this we might sum up – a la England – in three phases as well. Part One would be “The Catastrophic Campaign of Juan Cutillas in the ‘70s, Part Two “The Catastrophic Campaign of Juan Cutillas in the Late 90s, and Part Three “The Catastrophic Campaign of Juan Cutillas in 2008.”
Cutillas stirs a hornet’s nest each time he tells—advises, to his clique—the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) how to run its affairs. Recently he lambasted how money for the national team’s preparations is being wasted, as well as downplaying the Azkals’ recent success. He also dipped his fingers into the problematic schedule of tournaments, and took a dig at the foreign-based players, a cheap case of “reverse racism.”
With his trademark move suggesting largesse, Cutillas then offers solutions to “several issues for the PFF to address.”
Yet Cutillas’ remarks, nicely packaged in a broadsheet column last Tuesday as the football community’s supposed voice of reason, is nothing more than what Amis would describe as a “distillation of the obvious and the obviously false.”
For decades, Cutillas was deeply involved in Philippine football with nothing to show for it. And this brings us back to the three-part series of Philippine football’s miserable descent into doormatness, in which Cutillas had played lead roles.
From 1971 to 1972 (Part One), Cutillas was said to have had his first stint as national team manager. The team’s record for that period, excluding the friendly matches it all lost? Five wins, six draws and 15 losses, including a 0-12 thrashing by Indonesia and 1-8 whipping by Japan.
Then more than two decades later (Part Two), Cutillas, for some odd reason, regained his managerial duties. The team’s record from 1996-2000, excluding two friendly matches it both lost? Zero wins, one draw, and 27 losses, several of which were among the heaviest in the team’s history.
Yet again, Cutillas managed to return, this time to lead the Azkals of 2008-2009. The team’s performance in the 2008 AFF Suzuki Cup Qualifiers was an improvement from Cutillas’ earlier two disasters, with two wins, one draw and one loss.
Did the team qualify for Southeast Asia’s premier tournament? No. Does that count for a catastrophe? Yes, considering so much was expected from a strong team that could only draw Brunei and beat Timor-Leste with a paltry 1-0, and eventually cost the team a spot on goal difference. For some reason that had nothing to do with taking responsibility for the screw up, Cutillas quit a year later.
And so we arrive at the bigger question: do Cutillas’ pronouncements carry any weight, considering his three meaningless stints as manager that spanned four decades?
Commenting on a similar set of polemics from the manager early this year, an anonymous poster from an online forum couldn’t have phrased it any better: “Cutillas has had the chance to apply most of the things he mentions. He’s been around Philippine Football for a long time and has played key roles in the development system. His record as the national team coach speaks for itself; and it doesn’t say much.”
How tragic.
(nsvillaflor@gmail.com)
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on May 19, 2011.
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