PFF vows to stage better football tourney next time

MANILA—The Philippine Football Federation vowed on Thursday to do a better job in running national tournaments in the wake of the controversies that marred the staging of the PFF Suzuki Under-23 National Cup won by Negros Occidental.

“We apologize for the problems but rest assured, we will study what happened and put mechanisms to make the tournament run smoothly next time,” PFF president Mariano “Nonong” Araneta said in a statement.

In the same statement, tournament sponsor Suzuki Philippines clarified reports about its dissatisfaction with the conduct of the three-month event that lured almost all football associations in the country.

“We will not deny being affected by the controversy that hounded the tournament,” said Eilleen Esteban, Suzuki Philippines PR Officer. “But it didn’t come to a point of being angry nor disgruntled.”

The tournament was marred by protests, including in the finals where match officials made the mistake of calling for extra time in the first leg.

After both teams agreed to play extra time, Negros scored two goals in for a 3-1 win, but Iloilo protested that the result should have stayed at 1-1.

The PFF upheld the protest, but later flip-flopped on the decision, after Negros reportedly threatened not to play the second leg.

Negros drubbed Iloilo, 9-0, in the second leg to complete a 12-1 aggregate win.

“An incident here or there should not cloud what the tournament stands for,” said Araneta. “The games continued in spite of the problems and there was a champion declared.”