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U14 team to AFC tourney named
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Posted on Mar 02 2012
The Northern Mariana Islands Football Association has named the members of the CNMI Team that will compete in the AFC U14 Boys Festival in Beijing, China in April this year.
Making it to the 25-player roster are Emmanuel Aniana, Christopher Aninzo, Daniel and John Auther, Gideon Borja, Jordan Butcher, Louie Calayag, Carlson Cruzat, James Ermitanio, Joel Fruit, Joshua Galarion, Dakota Hall, Alan and William Hinson II, Kennedy Izuka, Won Jun Kim, John Masga, Julian Pellegrino, Watari Takima, Jeremi Tanghal, Ryu Tanzawa, and Moris Villanueva. NMIFA also selected three alternates—Mareko Tekopua, Jethro Cruz, and Geesyu Hahn.
Players selected came from about 40 youth strikers who joined a series of tryouts early this year.
“On behalf of the Executive Committee members thank you very much for coming out to try out for the team. It was a very positive atmosphere seeing players running the drills and doing their best,” NMIFA general secretary Ed Salas said in an email forwarded to officials of various clubs. “Congratulations to those who were selected.”
The event in China will run from April 23 to 30 and is one of the five festivals Asian Football Confederation is holding this year. The tournament in Beijing is for the East region and will also feature teams from Guam, Chinese-Taipei, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Macau, Mongolia, and North Korea.
The first festival was held last month in Qatar for west teams, while the central squads will have their own event in Pakistan from April 2 to 15. After the event in China, the U14 festival will move to Nepal (May 10 to 25) for the south teams, while the last competition will take place in Malaysia from May 21 to June 3 with squads in ASEAN joining the finale.
According to the AFC website, the festival of football “is a cornucopia of educational opportunities for players, coaches, referees, medical officers, physiotherapists, AFC Project Future hopefuls and the host association’s local organizing committee (LOC) and management.
The tournament in China is one of the four invites the CNMI received from AFC. The Commonwealth was also invited to the AFC U13 Girls Football Tournament 2012, which will be held in Nanjing, China from June 8 to 15, the AFC U16 Championship 2013, and the AFC U16 Championship 2014.
