In a country where basketball is king, soccer is all the rage. Despite the poor health of its national competition, which has not been played normally since before the pandemic, the Philippines is optimistic about its national team, which faces the Copa Suzuki AFF -tournament reserved for the nations of Southeast Asia- with a great novelty in their ranks. Once his nationalization was consummated, the man from Cádiz Welcome Marañón he was included for the first time in a convocation of the ‘Azkals’. Scott Cooper, the Philippine coach, has a goal. Much goal.
Becoming international with the Philippines was not in the plans of Bienve Marañón, who signed Ceres Negros – now United City – in 2015 and has been playing continuously in the Southeast Asian country for more than six years. “I’m not going there or crazy”he thought the first time he was asked to travel to Manila. Today, more than five years after that reflection, he is an eminence not only in the Philippines; also in Asia: Marañón is, with 35 goals, the all-time top scorer in the AFC Cup, the second most important club competition on the continent. Behind him are eminences of Asian football such as Jordanian Mahmoud Shelbaieh (34) or Singaporean Aleksandar Đurić (32).
“I would love to. I feel better than ever and I want to help Philippine football because it has also helped me improve my life,” Bienve Marañón said last March, when he learned that he could make the dream of defending the soccer jersey come true. ‘Azkals’. The man from Cádiz obtained Filipino nationality just four months later, but it has not been until now that he has been able to debut in a Scott Cooper call. At 35 years old, Bienve faces her international debut with a country that until just six years ago she had no ties. “Dreams come true. Thank you to everyone involved in this process. I will work hard so that you are proud to have me,” he said after collecting his passport.
The debut, against Singapore
If the coach sees fit, Bienve Marañón will play his first minutes with the Philippine national team on December 8 against Singapore, the host of a Suzuki Cup in which the ‘Azkals’ have never reached the semifinals. After being planted in the pre-final round in three of the last four editions of the tournament, the Filipino team will seek to go one step further with a squad full of new faces in which Stephan Schröck, with a past in the Bundesliga, also stands out, or He is also Andalusian with Filipino descent Angel Guirado (Alhaurín de la Torre CF), who debuted in 2011 with the ‘Azkals’ and is close to 50 caps.