The equivalent showdowns in the country’s national soccer league regularly struggle to attract four-figure crowds. “We are not a soccer country, simple as that,” said Cedelf Tupas, a sports reporter for The Philippine Daily Inquirer. “It is easy to play basketball in Manila.” While he praised the rising standards in the soccer league, he said: “People don’t watch. “It was the first time soccer made the front page of a major Philippines newspaper,” Tupas said. When that generation goes, then soccer grows big time.”In the Philippines, he said, the issues are cultural.

Source: New York Times November 23, 2016 22:02 UTC