CNMI faces new foes in AFC U16 qualifier

The CNMI will be up against unfamiliar opponents when it competes in the AFC U16 Championship India 2016 Qualifiers in Laos next month.

Cole Chambers leads the CNMI team’s training session at the Oleai Sports Complrex Field last Tuesday. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

The CNMI U16 National Team will be facing the host country, Timor Este, Malaysia, and the Philippines for the first time, as the five participating teams battle for the lone qualifying slot in Group G.

“It’s going to be a very different playing field because we’re use to meeting teams from East Asian Football Federation (South and North Korea, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Guam, Mongolia, Chinese-Taipei, and Japan). It’s a different brand of football,” said Jersh Angeles in an interview with Saipan Tribune.

Angeles is assisting Northern Mariana Islands Football Association technical director and CNMI coach Kiyoshi Sekiguchi in preparing the Commonwealth’s U16 crew for the Sept. 12 to 20 tournament at the National Sports Complex Stadium in Vientiane. The squad has 19 regular players in Christopher Aninzo, Clayton Izuka, James Ermitanio, Alan Hinson, Mareko Tekopua, Alex Park, Louie Calayag, Cole Chambers, Code Leon, Emannuel Aniana, Sunjoon Tenorio, Edwin Kim, Anthony Fruit, Joshua Abragan, Jonathan Capayas, Joshua De Leon, Thaiphi Austria, Chad Shankweiler, and Dai Podziewski, and reserves Albert Bergancia, John Joseph Bucayo, Logan Mister, and Jonah Pohl. Completing the team are assistant coach Wai Wo Lee, manager Derek Chambers, and doctor Jungsang Park.

The CNMI players have been practicing since September last year and have included watching video footages of their new opponents in their preparation for next month’s competition.

“We don’t know much about these teams so what we did was look for videos in the Internet. Fortunately, we found some when they played in the ASEAN Football Federation U16 Youth Championship. We watched these videos to sort of scout our opponents,” Angeles said.

The AFF youth event was held in Cambodia from July 25 to Aug. 9 this year with Thailand topping the 11-team field. Laos finished fourth behind third placer Australia and runner-up Myanmar. Laos, which lost to Myanmar in the semifinals, 0-1, was in Group A of the pool play and ruled its division with a 4-1-0 win-draw-loss record. Malaysia (2-0-3) and Timor Leste (1-2-2) were in the same group and ranked third and fifth, respectively, in the eliminations.

“Those three teams are toughs ones. They are quick so we really have to keep up with their pace so we can produce the best possible results when we play them,” Angeles said.

“We like our chances against the Philippines, but we don’t want to be over confident. We have to play our best every game regardless which team we face,” the assistant coach added.

The Philippines was in Group B of the AFF event and dropped all its elimination games, losing to Australia, Myanmar, Singapore, and Cambodia. The Philippines scored only three goals in the entire tournament and gave up 16—the most allowed in the tournament.

Meanwhile, the AFC qualifier is divided into 11 groups. Group A has Uzbekistan, Yemen, Palestine, and Maldives, while the rest of the field are as follows: Nepal, Oman, Kyrgyztan, and Jordan (Group B); Qatar, Tajikistan, Iraq, and Turkmenistan (Group C); Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Bangladesh (Group D); Iran, Bahrain, India, and Lebanon (Group E); Syria, Kuwait, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka (Group F); North Korea, Thailand, Singapore, and Cambodia (Group H); South Korea, China, Chinese-Taipei, and Macau (Group I); Australia, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Guam (Group J); and Japan, Hong Kong, Mongolia (Group K).

The top finisher from the 11 groups and the four best second-placed teams (combined pool) will qualify to the finals that will be held in India. The host country gets an outright slot to the finale that has yet to be scheduled. If India tops its group, the fifth second-best placed squad will join the 16-team final field.