Team Phil and Team James complete draft for 2014 Clear Dream Match

Loyola Meralco Sparks FC’s Joaco Canas and Lee Joo Young were in one corner playing FIFA 14 on  a big screen. Earlier, Global FC and the Azkals’ Jeffrey Christiaens had also enjoyed a game on the console. Azkals coach Thomas Dooley and assistant coach Bruno Baltazar were schmoozing by the bar with Phil Younghusband. On the other side of the room, James Younghusband, dressed in a suit, was chatting with some of the UFL’s other top players. Kaya FC and the Azkals' OJ Porteria and Kenny Daniels arrived in matching outfits, white button-downs with skinny black ties.

The mood was all about fun at Hyve on Wednesday night, not unlike a high-end frat party crossed with a Filipino football fan’s dream.

But that all changed when the Clear Dream Match draft began. Fans voted starting March 10 thru social media, choosing which brother would have the first round draft pick. Phil earned more than two million votes, letting him select first. Phil picked Ceres FC player and fellow Azkal Carlie de Murga as his co-captain, while James tabbed Pachanga PLDT Home Fibr FC player and Azkal Nate Burkey as his.

Unlike last year’s draft, however, an amateur selection followed the first round, and the brothers had to choose from a pool of six that had been selected by a committee that went around the country. Phil chose Ateneo de Manila standout and Manila Jeepney player Mikko Mabanag as his pick, while James picked Daniel Gadia. Gadia plays for the University of the Philippines and Pachanga in the UFL.

The third round saw the brothers’ top five picks for each of their teams, there was a good deal of ribbing about player poaching, but after that round, Phil had added Chris Greatwich (Kaya FC), Sam Bonney (Loyola Meralco Sparks), Mark Hartmann (Global FC), Anto Gonzales (Pachanga), and Baba Sampana (Loyola Meralco Sparks) to his squad. James on the other hand went with Joaco Canas and Simon Greatwich (Loyola Meralco Sparks) along with OJ Porteria and Anton del Rosario (Kaya FC), and lastly Misagh Bahadoran (Global FC).

After that, Phil and James had to pick names from fishbowls labeled with which position of player they think they needed on their team. That round went as follows:

Team Phil	Team James
Balot Doctora (Stallion FC)	Steve Yambou (Pachanga FC)
John Cain (Army-GTI FC)	Jeffrey Christiaens (Global FC)
Matthew Hartmann (Loyola Meralco Sparks)	Andrew Liauw (Kaya FC)
PJ Fadrigalan (Loyola Meralco Sparks)	Dae Han Kang (Army-GTI FC)
Nick O’ Donnell (Kaya FC)	Marvin Angeles (Ceres FC)
Roxy Dorlas (Loyola Meralco Sparks)	Lee Joo Young (Loyola Meralco Sparks)
Kenny Daniels (Kaya FC)	Chieffy Caligdong (Green Archers United)
Tating Pasilan (Green Archers United)	Emmanuel Mbata (Kaya FC)
Yoshiharu Koizumi (Amateur)	Roland Sadia (Global FC)
Darius Joseph Diamante (Amateur)	Francisco Jose Primo Santos (Amateur)
Patrick Deyto (Green Archers United)	Eduard Sacapaño (Army-GTI FC)

The last round of the draft was a wild card pick, where Phil and James could choose any player, whether they were part of the voting pool or not. since James had won last year’s match, he was given two wild card picks. James picked last year’s Clear Dream Match Golden Boot winner Izo Elhabbib and new Azkal Daisuke Sato, both from Global FC. Phil picked another new Azkal, Simone Rota, who plays with Stallion FC.


After the draft, Chris Greatwich joked that Team Phil is the lazy team while Team James is the showbiz team.

Fans may still vote online, this time to choose which team drafts their Manchester United legends Paul Scholes and Andy Cole. Additionally, the most active fan online will get the chance to fly to the UK to watch a live Manchester United game at the Old Trafford.

The Clear Dream Match will still be played at the University of Makati. Hopefully, the pitch will be fixed and ready by that time and the weather will cooperate, unlike in the last two matches, where heavy downpours had affected the quality of the pitch and the game.

The match will be on June 7, 2014, Saturday, only about a week after the Challenge Cup in the Maldives, and in between the UFL League’s scheduled games. - AMD, GMA News