MP United forces rubber vs Tan Holdings

MP United Football Club shut down Paire FC, 2-0, in the finals boys U18 division game in the 2015 NMIFA Youth Spring League last Saturday at the Oleai Sports Complex Field.

Tan Holdings FC’s Louie Calayag, and MP United’s Kyle Chung go for a header during their third meeting in the 2015 NMIFA Fall Youth Spring League at the Oleai Sports Complex. The two squads will face each other for the fourth time to decide the winner of the boys U18 division crown. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

MP United finished the three round-robin contest with a 7-1-1 win-draw-loss record to tie Tan Holdings FC for first place. The co-leaders will play in a rubber match later this month to decide the division champion of the spring season.

Jehn Joyner and Kyle Chung scored in MP United’s seventh victory. Joyner put the defending champion on the board with his shot in the 21st minute, while Chung added one more goal two minutes before the first half ended.

In the second half, Paire never made headway, failing to play a spoiler role in MP United’s bid to stay in the hunt for the division championship. Paire also missed barging into the win column as it dropped its ninth straight game to finish last in the four-team field. Matansa FC completed the boys U18 field and registered a 3-0-6 record in the spring season.

All of Matansa’s victory were against Paire and the former collected 16 goals in nine games, while the latter tallied only three. Tan Holdings, which forced a draw against MP United in the first round and won their second round match, had the most goals this season with 50 and gave up 7. MP United allowed the least goals (5), while earning 26.

NMIFA 3v3 tourney postponed
Meanwhile, the 2015 NMIFA 3v3 Grassroots Football Day Tournament slated this Saturday has been postponed due to tropical storm Dolphin, according to NMIFA general secretary Ross Zapanta.

Zapanta added they will announce later the rescheduled date for the event, which was supposed to be held at the Oleai pitch in celebration of the AFC Grassroots Football Day.

AS of last Monday, 16 teams have registered for the one-day tournament that will feature squads from U8, U18, and U12 age groups. The U8 division has three teams in Kanoa FC, Paire FC, and Tinian Premier FC. In the U10 division, Tinian has confirmed to send two squads to battle the representatives of Paire FC, Shirley’s FC, and Kanoa FC. Kanoa is also fielding one team in U12 Division B and two in Division A, while Paire and Tinian have one each in the two groups, and Shirley’s is sending one in Division B.