Shalani Soledad thankful for Yahoo! OMG! award

Shalani Soledad emerged as the top winner in the Yahoo! OMG! Philippines Awards 2011 which was held Tuesday night at the Republiq.

The beautiful Shalani Soledad won the award Yahoo! OMG! Celebrity of the Year for 2011 and according to the award description, it's given to most-searched celebrity on Yahoo! Philippines from January to May 2011.

Shalani, who's currently Willie Revillame's co-host on "Wil Time Bigtime", deserves the award as I've seen her many times as one of the Top Celebrity Searches on Yahoo! Philippines (ph.yahoo.com) this year.

On Twitter, Shalani is so much thankful for the award she received from Yahoo! Philippines.

You can check her Twitter profile now and you can see there that Shalani is flooding it with tweets of thanks to everyone who congratulated her for the award.

She was inactive on Twitter for 2 weeks, and it's only yesterday that she logged in there again just to say thanks for the award.

Shalani was also nominated in Yahoo! OMG! Awards 2011 Favorite Female TV Host alongside Toni Gonzaga, Alodia Gosiengfiao and Pia Guanio. Winner in the said category was selected based on popular votes and unfortunately, Shalani got the least number of votes. Toni won the award.

Favorite Female TV Host Poll Results:
1. Toni Gonzaga (21,528) 56%
2. Alodia Gosiengfiao (12,398) 32%
3. Pia Guanio (3,298) 9%
4. Shalani Soledad (1,152) 3%

Even Willie Revillame also lost in the Favorite Male TV Host category and also got the lowest votes:
1. Luis Manzano (35,074) 47%
2. Mo Twister (33,930) 45%
3. Vice Ganda (2,631) 4%
4. Vic Sotto (2,150) 3%
5. Willie Revillame (382) 1%

Just last March 2011, Shalani was also recognized by another search engine, Google Philippines, when she ranked #1 on its list of 20 Most Influential Women of 2010 (also based on search queries) placing higher than Kris Aquino who ranked 2nd.

Azkals team manager Dan Palami issues statement on controversies surrounding the Azkals

Dan Stephen Palami, the team manager of the Azkals, has issued a statement over the Azkals controversies.

That's in relation to the issues being thrown against the team, particularly its extremely popular player Phil Younghusband, who recently had an issue with Angelica Panganiban.

Last week, Angelica commented on Twitter that she's against Phil entering showbiz.

She also took notice of the Azkals getting lots of donations and alleged that they're now big-headed people.

Angelica also hit the Azkals on talking too much about their showbiz crushes. (Azkals player Chieffy Caligdong named Angelica as his showbiz crush and even challenged Angelica's boyfriend Derek Ramsay for a one-on-one football game.)

Some other people also are unhappy with the Azkals getting too much media attention, and one of them is TV host / radio dj Mo Twister, who even advised the media to focus on other national athletes who have achieved more than the Azkals.

Now, Dan Palami faces the controversies. He issued an statement on his Facebook early this week before the Azkals left for their training in Japan.

According to Palami, the Azkals deserve all the admiration, the endorsement offers and the opportunities that come their way after all what they've gone through to be where they are now.

He also assures the fans that his players aren't distracted by the controversies and will play their best on March 15 for the 2nd leg of their AFC 2012 Challenge Cup pre-qualifying game against Mongolia.

Read his statement, which aims to bring closure to the issues:

"Following the recent PSA awards, the Azkals start their Japan training this week still in high spirits. It was amazing to be recognized by great achievers in sports, and we thank Manny Pacquiao and all our other fellow awardees for their encouragement.

While most sectors have welcomed the Philippine's football renaissance, some concerns about the potential distraction of fame and celebrity for players have resulted in unfortunate controversies. I would prefer to keep silent on matters off the pitch, but some issues persist and these unwarranted doubts can’t be healthy for the team. As manager, therefore, I would like to categorically assure everyone that the coaches and I are taking all steps necessary to ensure that the Azkals always give their best. We are the first to call out any Azkal whose game is threatened by ‘distractions’ in any form.

With so many new aspirants for the national team, the competition for spots has become more intense, and I can tell you that the Azkals are working harder than ever. Every Azkal who has made it this far has earned his spot through hard work, talent, and ability to work well with the team. As long as each one fulfills his professional responsibilities, I wouldn't interfere in a player's personal life or bar him from undertaking projects in other fields.

The Azkals have endured so much to get to where they are now. All this time when they played for the Philippines, the Azkals would lose income because of time spent away from better-paying jobs. Compared to football players in other countries, our Azkals receive a mere pittance, and yet they play on. If admiration, endorsements and other opportunities are now coming their way, I hope none of us will begrudge them a little taste of their well-deserved victory. If they are able to build up football and other Azkals through exposure to other fields, I wouldn't withhold that from them either.

We respect everyone's opinion and accept that in some matters, there will be conflicting views. Still, we hope that any differences in perspective foster only healthy debate, and not degrade any individual or any other sport. As we prepare for our match in Mongolia, we hope to bring closure to polarizing disagreements and bring focus to what every sport is really all about: bridging differences and bringing people together.

Mabuhay tayong lahat!"