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SHAH ALAM, Malaysia—Mark Hartmann summarized his involvement in 7-a-side soccer, a different style of soccer that plays at a pace that contrasts greatly with the standard game he has known throughout his career, at his club and in his country.
“I'm tired,” Hartmann said with a smile after leading the Philippine Azkals to the final of the Asian Sevens Championship here.
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Not that he's complaining, though.
The Azkals settled for second place after a 2-1 loss to Japan at the EV Enviornment Elmina here, but Hartmann cemented his place among the competition's best players.
Following the Azkals' 6-1 win over Hong Kong in the semi-finals on Saturday, Hartmann has racked up 12 goals, highlighted by a four-goal performance in the quarterfinal win over Vietnam and a pair of hat-tricks that came in the Last 4 and in the hard-fought 4-3 victory over hosts Malaysia in the group stage.
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“It's great to score goals,” Hartmann said, before deflecting all credit for the Azkals' run. “But it also comes with the help of all the players. “I’m in the right place at the right time and we have a lot of good players on this team.”
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Japan repeats
Hartmann, Stephan Schrock, Misagh Bahadoran, Daisuke Sato, Patrick Grogg, Arnel Amita, Kenry Balobo and the rest of the Azkals 7 failed to prevent Japan from repeating the tournament, which seeks to grow after the second edition.
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The 32-year-old is enjoying his time in Asia 7s and is not currently affiliated with any 11-a-side football club. The national team veteran was in the Philippine Football League and with clubs in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.
“I'm semi-retired, but if the opportunity to sign comes and it happens, it happens,” Hartmann said. “If not, I'm happy to be in the 7, and maybe I can go to a 7 team after this.
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“Of course, it's always great to represent a country, whether it's the No. 7 or the national team,” he added. INQ
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