CNMI triumphs in AFC tourney opener

 The CNMI U14 National Team booked a win in the opening of the AFC U-14 Boys’ Festival of Football for East Asia in Beijing, China, last Wednesday.

The Commonwealth strikers pulled off a 2-0 victory against Chinese-Taipei during their second game in Day 1 of the four-day competition. Dakota Hall and Joel Fruit teamed up in giving the CNMI its second goal, while the first one was scored off Chinese-Taipei’s miscue.

The CNMI versus Chinese-Taipei game was played at 3pm (5pm on Saipan) at the China National Football Training Center and according to NMIFA general secretary Ed Salas, the Commonwealth bets made it to the scoreboard at the 6:45 mark of the first half.

“Ryu Tanzawa made a great play forcing the Chinese Taipei player to make a desperate kick towards his own goal and their goalkeeper was unable to contain it, giving us our first goal,” Salas wrote in an email forwarded to NMIFA officials and parents of the 22 members of the team.

The CNMI hung onto a precarious 1-0 lead after goalie Julian Pellegrino dove for the ball twice for the saves. Then with just one minute left in the game, the CNMI was awarded a penalty kick with Hall starting the play and feeding Fruit, who eventually found the back of the net.

Tanzawa, Hall, Fruit, and Pellegrino were part of CNMI’s Team A that played against Chinese-Taipei and were joined by Kennedy Izuka, William Hinson, Jordan Butcher, John Masga, Won Juong Kim, Moris Villanueva, and Joshua Galarion. The Commonwealth strikers played against Chinese-Taipei in three periods with each frame lasting for 30 minutes.

Besides Chinese-Taipei, the CNMI also dueled North Korea and Guam in the opening of the youth tournament and although the Commonwealth players failed to win, they held their ground on defense, allowing their foes to score only two goals each.

In their first game against North Korea, coach Kiyoshi Sekiguchi fielded his B team led by captain Danny Auther. North Korea scored early (fourth minute) and then made another goal in the 21st minute before the CNMI tightened up its defense in the last two periods and held the former scoreless for more than an hour.

Joining Auther in the game against North Korea were his younger brother, John, Alan Hinson, Wataru Tajima, Emanuel Aninza, Gideon Borja, Jeremie Tanghal, James Ermitanio, Carlson Cruzat, Louie Calayag, and Christopher Aninzo.

The same B players also suited up for the CNMI against Guam and after allowing the latter to score back-to-back goals in the first period (4th and 6th minute), Sekiguchi’s wards regrouped defensively and silenced their opponents.

“The boys are having a great time so far. They practiced hard and played hard. They have also been on their best behavior. They’ve made friends from most of the countries and had an impromptu dance competition with Mongolia in the hall last night (Wednesday),” Salas added in his email to the players’ parents.

The game against Guam was the CNMI’s last in Day 1. Yesterday, the Commonwealth youthstrikers were also scheduled to play three matches with the first game against China at 11:15am; the second versus Guam anew at 3pm; and the last against Macau at 4:30pm. The CNMI’s remaining games are against Japan (Saturday at 8:30am), North Korea (Sunday at 8:30am) and Mongolia (Sunday at 11:30am).