MP United holds ground vs Guam players

Flight delays failed to dampen the spirits of MP United Football Club players who showed their wares in friendly matches in Guam over the weekend.

MP United U12 and U18 squads, which arrived in Guam early Saturday morning after their Friday evening flight was delayed, played three and two matches, respectively. MP United U15 also competed in three games that were all played last Sunday, as their Saturday flight was cancelled.

The youngest squad in the group first played against the Tumon Wings Saturday morning and almost forced a draw if not for an offside call. The Tumon Wings’ Bradly Lubas scored the game’s lone goal after a corner kick in the first half. Then late in the second half, MP United U12 had a chance to equalize when Sun Joon Tenorio evaded two defenders and kicked the ball in. However, the shot was ruled as offside, allowing the Tumon Wings to keep the win.

The Joel Jimenez-coached MP United U12 returned at the pitch in the afternoon and shut out the Strykers, 3-0. The visitors were also scheduled to face the Sidekicks for their third match, but the game was cancelled, as the latter did not have enough players. Then last Sunday, Jimenez’s wards managed to avenge their loss to the Tumon Wings after nailing a 3-1 victory. After their games, Jimenez said playing against Guam teams gave his squad good exposure.

“By playing against the Guam teams, it gives us a chance to diversify,” Jimenez was quoted as saying in an interview with a Guam Football Association official. “It’s good exposure for the team. “We’re also trying to grow as an organization on Saipan. Hopefully, we’ll get more interest in soccer on Saipan, especially with these travel opportunities.”

MP United U15 was the last team to make it to Guam and was forced to play three consecutive games last Sunday as it was also scheduled to return to Saipan the same day.

Despite this trouble, MP United U15 said the trip was still worth it.

“It was a really great experience for the team. After our Saturday flight was cancelled I asked the boys if they still wanted to go even if it was Sunday already. Everyone still wanted to come to Guam to play and experience the new turf pitch. We don’t have a turf pitch on Saipan,” MP United coach Normal Del Rosario was quoted in a GFA report.

Del Rosario’s players arrived in Guam about an hour before their first game against Guam’s U15 team and lost the opener, 1-3. Ryota Ito scored MP United’s lone goal in the game. Ito and company then played two more games in the afternoon and managed a 3-3 draw and 1-3 loss.

“This was a good wake-up call for the team. “It’s always good for the team to experience the level of play outside of Saipan. We saw what our mistakes were and what we need to work on to improve further,” Del Rosario added.

The friendly matches were played at the new Desso turf of GFA in Harmon and MP United players and coaches loved the artificial pitch.

“Natural grass is good, but after playing here, I think I prefer the turf,” GFA quoted MP United U12 player Bada Lee. “It’s a different feeling, like when I dive for the ball on the turf, it’s a little itchy. I hope that we can have a turf pitch in Saipan, too.”

“It was a perfect pitch. The boys had an excellent experience playing in a fast pitch,” said Brad Ruszala, who coached MP United U18 and led the team to a 5-2 victory against Guam’s U14 A Team and to an 11-3 triumph against the B squad.

Ruszala added that some of his wards also had a chance to learn goal-keeping techniques from former Guam national players.

MP United U18 is composed of Seong Joon Lee, Nam Ki Kim, Moon Bin Hong, Dae Min Jeon, Jin Han Yoon, Joshua Borja, Greg Kim, Jewong Hwan Kim, Bob Kim, Clay McCullough-Stearns, Chris Camacho, Yong Jun Jeon, and Evert Van Der Maas. The club’s U15 has Jehn Joyner, who is joined by co-captain and defender Enrico Del Rosario, Julian Pellegrino, Gregzon Fontanilla, Daniel Lim, Jake Lee, Andrew Johnson, Sam Soledad, Dakota Hall, Angelo Jones, Jordan Butcher, John Taisacan, Kennedy Izuka, John Masga, Kaisei Toda, and Ito. For the U12 team, Bada Lee and Tenorio were joined by Moris Villanueva, Colin Ramsey, Gee Syu Hahn, Tae Kim II, Wataru Tajima, Sung Wook Hong, Clayton Izuka, Kentaro Kitagawa, Alex Pak, Amir Abes, and Steven Kim.