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CNMI U14 team leaves for Beijing
Members of the CNMI U14 National Team listen to the pointers given by assistant coach Jersh Angeles in one of their training sessions at the Oleai Sports Complex Field this month. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)
Members of the CNMI U14 National Team will be the first batch of players to leave Saipan this month to compete in Asian Football Confederation-sanctioned tournaments.
The U14 squad will leave for Beijing, China this Sunday to participate in the AFC U14 Regional Festival of Football, which will run from Sept. 7 to 14 with actual games beginning on Sept. 9.
The Northern Mariana Islands Football Association-backed team will send 19 players to China and the list includes goalies Clayton Izuka and John Joseph Bucayo, defenders Cole Chambers, Cody Leon, David Mafnas, Kirt Andon, Sebastien Manabat, Dai Podziewski, and Leandro Bichayda, midfielders Jonathan Capayas, Joshua Abragan, Joshua De Leon, Andruw Omelau, Edward Joon Cho, Logan Mister, Jonah Pohl, and Mark Esalan, and forwards Thaiphi Austria and John Michael Rojas. Former Olympian and Chelsea FC Soccer School Hong Kong’s Luam Khen Koo is the squad’s coach and will be assisted by Wai Wo Lee, while Derek Chambers and Karen Buettner are the team manager and physiotherapist, respectively.
Assistant coach Jersh Angeles, who handled the training session of the select squad in absence of Koo, said the team will still practice this week with the last set for Friday. He added that Lee was already in town and conducted the squad’s training session yesterday with the help of another Chelsea FC Soccer School Hong Kong coach Takemoto Suzuki. Koo will join the squad in Beijing from Hong Kong this Sunday.
“In the final week of the team’s training session, we will be focusing on plays and positioning,” said Angeles, who will assist in the team’s practice session anew today at the Oleai Sports Complex Field.
Angeles added a team send-off will be held at the lobby of Kanoa Resort this Saturday and the squad leaves Saipan for its connecting flight to Guam at 2:20pm. From Guam, the group will go to Manila, Philippines and then to its final destination.
In Beijing, the CNMI youth players will collide against teams from Japan, North and South Korea, Chinese-Taipei, and host China.
