Skills and a fighting heart were simply not enough for the young RP XI Under-16 team as their lack of training and exposure to international games led to a devastating 0-12 opener in the Asian U16 Football Championship Group E Qualifier, Saturday at the Panaad Stadium football pitch in Brgy. Mansilingan, Bacolod City .

In a post-game interview, national coach Glenn Ramos admitted that their three weeks of training camp were too short to prepare the team and they didn't expect too much from the performance of the players.

“If the PFF (Philippine Football Federation) will give us another chance, in three years, this team will be more competitive if they play in Under-19 tournament,” Ramos said.

Unlike Team Japan , which underwent six camps and 10 international matches in preparation for the tournament, Team Philippines 23-man roster was only finalized late last month.

Although all 23 members were selected from the 29-man training pool, unfamiliarity which each other's style of play were evident as the team played tentatively all throughout the game, allowing Japan to score one goal after the other.

Top scorer Hayakawa deftly outplayed his defenders as he tallied five goals while forward Takumi Minamino and defender Takuya Iwanami booted in 3 goals each. Forward Kosuke Shinjo added another goal to complete the rout.

Despite the overwhelming victory over the host team, Japanese coach Hirofumi Yoshitake complimented the RP XI for playing fair and putting up a good fight.

“They kept on running and pressured our players. They just have to work on their defense more,” Yoshitake said.

Meanwhile, Indonesia and Bangladesh played to a scoreless draw in Saturday's second game giving the Negrense fans, who trooped to the Panaad Stadium to watch the game Saturday, an idea of what to expect in the next few days of the tournament.

The Filipinos need to hurdle their match against Chinese Taipei at 2 p.m. today to keep their bid for the final two slots in next year's championship round in Nepal alive.

Bangladesh will face Japan in this afternoon's second game scheduled at 4:30 p.m.*NAB

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