Appointed to head the women’s team in July, coach Marlon Maro was sacked after just three months.
Weird, isn’t it?
Or was that all pre-determined? Was he appointed in July as a temporary caretaker, one who’d take charge before the Philippine Football Federation could finally get who it wanted?
But here’s how the PFF made the announcement in July.
“He will be tasked to lead the Women’s National Team to the AFC Women’s Asian Cup India 2022 beginning with the qualifiers to be held this coming September 2021 in Kathmandu, Nepal. The AFC Women’s Asian Cup also serves as the qualifiers for the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023. Maro is also expected to lead the team in the 31st Southeast Asian Games, which may be held in Vietnam in 2022.” the PFF said in its July announcement.
The Women’s Asian Cup is in January, 2022, while the SEA Games will be in May, 2022, so when the PFF made that announcement in July 2021, it expected Maro to head the women’s team for at least 10 months.
Of course, that is barring any monumental failure.
But he didn’t fail, right? In fact he got us a spot in the AFC Women’s Cup.
As a thank you, he got replaced?
My disagreement with the coach was with his plan to change the nickname and only that. That’s not a “sackable offense,” and nor is it—especially in the pandemic when a lot of folks lost their jobs–something to gloat or celebrate about.
Sure he got another appointment but it seems like a demotion upstairs, like an unwanted uncle in the family business who gets promoted from general manager to an obscure office.
Back in charge for coaches education, what face did the PFF leave coach Maro to have?
“You want to teach us how to be national team coaches when you weren’t even good enough to keep your job?”
Or will it be, “You can achieve all you want on the field, but ultimately, it won’t matter.”
Because for me, that’s how this is being played out. Unless of course, Coach Maro, in July, got a three-month appointment.
I hope the new coach does well and I hope he can take us to the Women’s World Cup but I also hope the former Matildas coach appointment as the Malditas coach won’t be the same as the case of Sven Goran Eriksson, when we got a high-profile coach for one tournament only.
