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MP United begins Pilipinas Cup bid today
Players and officials of MP United FC’s U14 and U17 teams pose for a photo at the departure area of the Saipan International Airport before leaving for the Philippines last Saturday morning. (Contributed Photo)
First to see action in the four-day competition is MP United’s U14 squad, which will debut against Higala FC at 10am at Field 3. The club’s U17 team, on the other hand, will have its opening match in the tournament at 2pm versus the high school team of the University of Sto. Tomas. MP United players have only one day of rest before beginning their bid in the Pilipinas Cup as they left Saipan early Saturday morning and arrived in Manila late evening.
The club’s U14 squad is fielding 17 players in the division with Sun Joon Tenorio leading the team. Other members of the squad are Joshua Abragan, Richard Chin, Danielle Colombo, Steven Goodwin, Clayton Izuka, Cody Leon, Edwin Kim, Tony Kim, Alex Park, Kevin Park, Go Sekiguchi, Rinto Takahashi, Jon Villagomez, Seung Mock You, Keeanu Diaz, and Ba Da Lee. Eric Abragan and Lydia Tan complete the U14 team, serving as assistant coach and manager, respectively.
MP United U14 is in Group A of the 19-team field. After its game against Higala FC, the team will face Loyola Meralco Sparks tomorrow, FC Forza Academy on Wednesday, and FC Nasugbu on Thursday. After the round-robin play, only the Top 2 teams in the group will join qualifiers in Groups B, C, and D in the playoffs. Group B has Albay Legaspi FA A, Don Bosco Cebu A, Global FC, Paref Southridge, and Dom Bosco College Canlubang, while Manila Soccer Academy leads Group B joining Roxas Wildcats FC, Pilipinas Dragons FC, and Green Archers United FC. Group D is composed of Albay Legazpi FA B, Don Bosco Cebu B, Green Barons FC, Atene de Manila, and RC Tanauan Labuyo.
In the U17 division, MP United is in Group C along with University of Batangas, Iriga City-Usant, and Manila Soccer Academy. The team has 15 players in Christopher Aninzo, Enrico del Rosario, Daniel Bae, Chan Woo Jeong, Jehn Joyner, Scott Kim, John Diego Masga, Luis Borja, Marco Borja, Karmello Carlos Rodriguez, Julian Roxas, Ryu Tanzawa, David Yang, Jason Kim, and Jack Unsa and will be coached by Norman del Rosario.
The squad will face Manila Soccer Academy on Tuesday before playing back-to-back games on Wednesday against the University of Batangas on Wednesday and Iriga City. There are only three groups in the U17 division with Forza FC Team Socceroo, Invictus FC, RC Tanauan Labuyo, and Far Eastern University Diliman making up Group A and LPU-Cavite, Ateneo de Manila, Higala FC, Albay Legaspi FA and Green Archers United FC comprising Group B.
MP United’s teams will aim to surpass the club’s third place in when it debuted in the Pilipinas Cup last year. The visiting team joined the U18 division contest last year and made it to the semifinals before losing to eventual champion Loyola Meralco Sparks. The Norman del Rosario-coached squad then bounced back in the battle for third place, stunning La Salle Greenhills.
Meanwhile, the club would like to thank the following for making their participation to the Pilipinas Cup possible: IT&E CNMI, IP&E Saipan, I Love Saipan, 3HighRes, Dr. Park of Brother’s Acupuncture, all who supported the team in its fundraising events.
