31 July 2007, Oslo, Norway. In the Norway Cup, RIFA Philippines lost to Haugsbygd 1, 1-3, as the team could not fend off the taller and bigger Haugsbygd 1 girls. Our only goal came courtesy of top striker Aira dela Cruz.

The other game between Aurdal/Leira COOP and Søre Neset 2 ended in a scoreless draw. Our team thus finished 3rd in the group and will move on to the Group B Finals Round, while Haugsbygd 1 and Aurdal/Leira COOP advance to Group A.

The standings at the end of the elimination round are as follows:

P.S. Once again, we had a cheering squad of members of the Filipino community in Oslo at the game egging our girls on!

31 July 2007, Oslo, Norway.

Guess who took time off to go sightseeing around Frognerparken, the biggest park in Oslo?

The park is a showcase for the bronze and granite sculptures of Gustav Vigeland. Check out the link to the Vigeland Sculpture Park for the history and other information of this famous landmark in Oslo.

31 July 2007, Oslo, Norway.

First, the bitter: it seems that biased officiating caused the team’s loss to Aurdal/Leirca COOP yesterday. We would have been up 3-1 if the goal by Marsha Nackaerts hadn’t been nullified. Mallotte Santos says:

… Ms. F submitted an incident report that will be forwarded to the head of the referees but they said nothing can be done to overturn the ref’s decision. We filed the report to inform them how unfair the officiating was during the game. The ref would call fouls against us but wouldn’t do it against the Norwegian team. Aira threw in the ball and Marsha was able to score a goal resulting in a 3-1 lead for us. The other team got the ball and was ready to do the kick-in after the goal when the referee signaled that the goal wasn’t counted. No whistle before that to stop the game. When Coach asked him why, he said they had to repeat the throw-in because one of the members of the other team was having an asthma attack. Coach asked why he didn’t stop the game earlier and he claimed that he told Aira to stop the throw-in. Aira said that the ref didn’t tell her anything.

Parang na-demoralize yung kids after that so nagka-lapses na sila in their play. Anyway, nag-tie pa sila after. Then, parang ang tagal nung second half. When the other team scored to take the lead, the ref signaled the end of the game. He proceeded to congratulate the Norwegian team but didn’t approach Coach to shake his hand. When the kids approached the Norwegian team to congratulate them after the game, they refused to shake their hands.

Now for the sweet: Mapaibang-bansa man, iba talaga ang Pinoy! Our kababayans in Norway showed up to cheer the team on. After the controversial defeat, they assisted Mrs. Emma Fernandez in filing the incident report. And to help ease the pain of the loss, they treated the team to dinner at a Chinese restaurant where the girls savored having rice for the first time since they left Manila. Mallotte Santos recounts the warmth and hospitality of the resident Pinoys:

… the nice thing about it was that we had a lot of Filipino supporters. They are members of the Naic Cavite Community of Norway, the most active Filipino community here in Oslo. It is headed by Mr. Romy Talao. They were waving Filipino flags and cheering for us. Some of the members who couldn’t make it to the game, were calling their friends for updates on the game. They saw what happened so they accompanied Coach and Ms. F to the Secretariat to file the protest. They also alerted the Philippine embassy on this.

… It’s about 10:30pm and we just came back from a Chinese dinner at Jumbo Restaurant along Karl Johans Gate hosted by Mr. Troy Bocalan and other members of the Filipino community, together with the new Philippine consul-general to Norway, Mrs. Garcia. The kids were just so happy to eat rice for the first time. We had beef with broccoli, sweet and sour pork, pancit, shrimps with vegetables and a chicken dish. After that, we walked along the famous Karl Johans Gate to the Congress building, National Theatre, Oslo University, the Royal Palace and the Municipal Hall. The Pinoy community here is really warm and accommodating. One of them even bought each of us a Norway T-shirt as souvenir. They picked us up from the school where the kids were staying and took care of bringing us back. Naka-kotse kami, mga 5 cars ang gamit.

Mr. Bocalan has a son, Mikael, who plays for Skied FC in Norway. He’s 15 years old. Star player daw siya dito. He looks like Mateo Guidicelli. Muy guapito! He’s looking into possibility of playing for the Philippine national team.

To Mr. Romy Talao and the Naic Cavite Community of Norway, Mr. Troy Bocalan, Philippine Consul-General Garcia, Ms. Adelina Lopez (who brought the team to the St. Olav Catholic Church for last Sunday’s Mass) and the other resident Filipinos of Norway who took time off to support our girls and lavish attention on them, we salute you and thank you from the bottom of our hearts! Mabuhay Pilipinas!

This is the St. Olav Catholic Church in Oslo. (St. Olav or Olaf is the patron saint of Norway.) It was a Filipina, Adelina Lopez, or Adel, who has been living in Norway since the 1970s, who volunteered to accompany the team to the church so they could hear Mass.

30 July 2007, Manila, Philippines. Below is the team standings after the heart-breaking and controversial loss of RIFA Philippines to Aurdal/Leirca COOP and the second win of Haugsbygd 1:

RIFA Philippines is in 2nd place although it has the same win-draw-loss card with Aurdal/Leirca COOP due to higher aggregate score of +3 (+8,-5) as against -1 (+4,-5) for Aurdal.

It’s a must win for RIFA Philippines tomorrow if we are to be assured of a passage to Group A as there is a big possibility that the other 2nd placer, Aurdal/Leirca COOP, will win, as they will be going up against cellar-dweller Søre Neset 2.