“The first World Cup I remember was in the 1950, when I was 9 or 10 years old. My father was a soccer player and there was a big party, and when Brazil lost to Uruguay, I saw my father crying.” –Pele

Imagine if the Philippines pulled the rug out from under defending World Cup champions Germany, the same way Mexico defeated them, 1-0, in the ongoing 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

“Dutertards” and “Yellowtards” would put aside their mudslinging and social media pages would be inundated with soccer melodrama. Plus, with Mexican fans reportedly setting off earthquake detectors amid their celebrations after Mexican winger Hirving Lozano scored the decisive goal against Germany, Filipino fans would have caused a major earthquake as fans across the three regions of the country would be celebrating such a momentous feat.

Star players would also easily clinch elective positions in the next elections and likely elevated to become the next senate president or house speaker – only in the Philippines.

Any win would spark a national festival, even if it wasn’t a championship.

In accomplishing that one victory, offices and classes across the Philippines would be suspended, traffic halted, politics shifted to the backseat, trading on the stock market paused, crime deteriorated, and malls abandoned. Filipinos would celebrate as if they had won their first Olympic gold medal.

Soccer itself is a mystical sport and the FIFA World Cup is the biggest and most popular outdoor sporting event known in the universe.

Sorry to cut the fantasy short

To speculate the Philippines could win against a powerhouse like Germany is bordering on megalomania.

In the first place, the Philippines cannot match any of the soccer superpowers from the Americas and Europe for the simple reason that a Philippine national team has never qualified for a FIFA World Cup, despite being one of the oldest national teams in Asia. The Philippine has been playing at an international level since 1913 but the best achievement, so far, has been qualifying for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup; the best result from a major tournament was taking second place to Palestine at the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup.

We can share the moment with the Mexicans, who resemble Filipinos in height and other various features, but it was only the country’s second win against Germany in 12 World Cup matches – losing on six other occasions and ending in draws four times.

There is still a long way to go. Germany could bounce back and advance to take back-to-back World Cup titles, Mexico could continue slaying giants to win their first title, or both could end up eliminated./WDJ