On Coach Yeng Guiao's latest suspension

I dedicate this finger to the officials who have been f..king around my team.

Well, what's new? Everyone's favorite coach, Rain or Shine's Yeng Guiao has just been slapped P100,000 for yet another on-air dirty finger as he was thrown out for two technical fouls during Game 4 of their semifinals series against Petron Blaze last Monday; this time, it's on the referees whose decisions he disagreed. Worse, he is suspended for Game 5 on Friday.

What do you expect for a coach who is famous for fearlessly expressing his thoughts on-court, whether if it's on the referees, his players, or even on opposing teams? This is what I like from the unorthodox coach.

But I'm sure this won't dampen the Elasto Painters' chances of success in this series, as they are holding a 3-1 advantage over the Blaze Boosters. They earned the lead through hard work, composure (as they even lost guard Paul Lee to a sprained ankle in Game 4), and some luck (Petron's stars misfired their threes as they were trying to recover their lost leads in Games 2 and 4). And the former two are part of Coach Yeng's system; as for the third component is just Petron's problem anyway.

The best part is that the fine will go directly into the scholarship fund for PBA players' children. So maybe Coach Yeng is trying to be a philanthropist, no?

Azkals has got a new friendly opponent

Now that the Philippine football team has got a new coach in former US skipper Thomas Dooley, their preparations for the AFC Challenge Cup in Maldives in May is now underway. In fact, four days after his debut in Kuala Lumpur against Malaysia in March 1, they will face this European team, either in Dubai or the latter's capital:



This will be the Azkals' first European opponent since Estonia came away with a 1-0 win in 1997.