Teen Ayuyus work on 3 pointers

As the East Asian Football Federation Boys U13 Festival 2015 nears, the CNMI training pool is focusing on three factors that would decide the Commonwealth’s fate in next month’s event in Guam.

Players who join the tryout for the CNMI U13 National Team perform drills during a training session at the Oleai Sports Complex Field early this month. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Head coach Jersh Angeles said the 25 members of the training pool are instructed to master their individual skills, get used to pressure always, and keep the game’s pace.

“For the last few weeks, we are working on improving their individual skills—passing, dribbling, and ball control. We want them to be confident every time they have the ball. After playing in Laos and Thailand (Asian Football Confederation qualifiers), we noticed that our players were not that confident when they had possession so they were forced to kick the ball out or give it up quickly,” said Angeles, who has been leading the pool’s training session for the last two weeks with the help of Northern Mariana Islands Football Association technical director Kiyoshi Sekiguchi.

“If they are confident in handling every possession and have mastered their individual skills, we will have more opportunity to attack,” added Angeles, who will be assisted by Chelsea FC Soccer School Hong Kong’s Takemoto Suzuki.

Angeles also said members of the pool must always be ready to handle pressure.

“Even if you do not have the ball yet, expect the defense to get to you quickly and be ready for defenders who will put pressure on you. Every possession is a battle and there will always be pressure, whether you are playing offense or defense,” the coach said.

“And when there is pressure, you always expect the game to be fast-paced, so our players must keep up with that. Speed is the name of the game and they must sustain their pace and be mentally prepared for changes in the pace of each match.”

So far, Angeles is training 25 members of the pool and the number will be down to 18 after this week’s training.

The players who made the initial cut from 50 aspirants were Tan Holdings Football Club’s Mark Esalan, Thaipi Austria, John Michael Roxas, Angelo Bergancia, Floyd Muna, siblings Taka and Ichiro Borja, and Kirro Batino; Kanoa FC’s Kirt Andon, Angelo Ada, Sebastien Manabat, Ian Maniago, and Jhoey Noble; Matansa FC’s Lolo Benito, Reginald Pascual, Glenn Basillo, Justin Achas, and Raseff Altamirano; MP United FC’s Eunsyn Hahn, Jon VIllagomez, Jason Quiamzon, and David Meyers Jr; and Paire FC’s Kaden Church and Blake Mister. Guam-based Edward Joon Cho rounds out the list.

“I think the training pool has some talented players. The EAFF U13 festival will be one of the opportunities to know how much we could do,” Sekiguchi said when asked about the composition of the pool in a separate interview with Saipan Tribune last weekend.

In the EAFF event, which will run from Nov. 7 to 11, the Teen Ayuyus will be playing against Chinese-Taipei, North Korea, Macau, Hong Kong, Mongolia, and host Guam.