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Blue Ayuyus to face 3 Japanese squads
The CNMI Boys U18 National Team’s Joel Fruit tries to hold down Aries FC’s Kenji Tamaki during the second half of their friendly game in February last year at the Oleai Sports Complex Field. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)
The CNMI Men’s National Training Pool will be playing against three Japanese teams this month to prepare for the East Asian Football Federation East Asian Cup 2016 Preliminary Round 1.
First up for the Blue Ayuyus is the Aries Football Club, which handed the CNMI U18 National Team a 5-0 beating during the Tokyo-based team’s last visit here in February 2015. Aries FC will test the Blue Ayuyus mettle this Saturday at 4pm at the Oleai Sports Complex Field with the visiting team expected to see familiar faces, as some of the players they beat last year are now part of the Blue Ayuyus’ training pool.
Assistant coach Jersh Angeles said there are over 30 players in the pool and they are mostly young ones with the youngest at 15. He added that only 20 (excluding 2 reserves) players from the group will be chosen to play against Aries FC and selection will be based on their performance in the training sessions.
The pool is training four times a week from Tuesday to Friday from 4:30pm to 6:30pm. The group started its training sessions at the Oleai pitch before moving to Hopwood Junior High School Field this week. Angeles said they may have to add one more training day if they will continue to practice at the Hopwood pitch.
“The players are doing OK at the training session, but of course there’s a lot of work to be done and we have to catch up faster since the EAFF tournament will be held in June or July this year,” said Angeles, who is assisting head coach Kiyoshi Sekiguchi in training the pool.
Angeles said the pool is up for a tough fight against Aries FC, which plays in top level college leagues and is scouted by professional teams.
After its game against Aries FC, which will touch down on Saipan this Thursday, the Blue Ayuyus will challenge Japan Soccer College and a champion team from Mainichi. Japan Soccer College, which lost to the CNMI U18 National Team last year, 2-1, will arrive on Feb. 15 and will play against the Blue Ayuyus on Feb. 17. The arrival and playing dates of the third Japanese team will be announced later.
