Teen Ayuyus nip Macau in EAFF tourney

Assistant coach Jersh Angeles gives instructions to CNMI players during a training session in China last Sunday. The CNMI is competing in the East Asian Football Federation U15 Boys Tournament and defeated Macau, 1-0, yesterday.
(Contributed Photo)

The CNMI Boys U15 National Team eked out a 1-0 victory over Macau in its opening game in the East Asian Football Federation U15 Boys Tournament yesterday in Xianghe, China.

Rintaro Miyawaki scored the lone goal in the game, finding the back of the net in the 14th minute. Other details of the Teen Ayuyus’ win over Macau will be reported on Saipan Tribune’s Wednesday edition.

The CNMI-Macau tiff was scheduled at 4:30pm (6:30pm Saipan time) for one of the last pair of matches in the opening day of the competition. China and Japan started the hostilities in the 10-team field as they collided in the 10:30pm match, while South and North Korea squared off at 1:30pm—the same time Chinese-Taipei was set to challenge Mongolia. In the other 4:30pm game, Guam was slated to meet Hong Kong. Results of the other opening day matches were unavailable as of press time.

The Teen Ayuyus, who also have Razeff Altamirano, Taka Borja, Ian Karl Maniago, Floyd Muna, Reginald Pascual, Brandon Tenorio, Merrick Toves, and John Joseph Villagomez, defenders John Ezekiel Canape, Brian Lubao, Daniel Mar Pablo, Rinto Takahashi, and Elijah Villarmero, forward Oliver Fajardo, and goalkeepers Jonathan Mindanao, John Martin Palad, and Jason Quimzon as members, left Saipan for the EAFF tournament last Friday and arrived in China last Saturday. They then spent their first two days in Xianghe holding team discussions and brief training sessions.

A light recovery training was held Saturday afternoon, while the team meeting took place last Sunday morning, according to team manager Mikky Vargas.

“We discussed the players’ job allocations while on the trip and afterwards gave the boys some time to practice their team performance for the tournament’s farewell dinner. After lunch, the team made its way to the pitch for training. We ended the night with another team meeting where we discussed important tournament rules in preparation for tomorrow’s (yesterday’s) opening game against Macau,” Vargas said.

After the match versus Macau, the Teen Ayuyus will take on China today at 10:30am. The game against the hosts is among the toughest for the CNMI, according to head coach Michiteru Mita, and they have to be aggressive both on offense and defense to produce positive results against China. Mita was reunited with the Teen Ayuyus in China last Sunday after joining the CNMI Men’s National Team pool in Japan for a weeklong training camp.

Besides China, the head coach also sees Japan as the CNMI’s toughest opponent in the EAFF tournament. The Teen Ayuyus will meet Japan tomorrow, while their last two matches will be against Mongolia (July 27) and Chinese-Taipei (July 28).