20 named to U23 Men’s National Team

Members of the NMI U23 Men’s National Team that will be playing against Guam in the Marianas Football Club 2023 have been named with the host squad coming up with a mix of experienced players and young guns.

Sunjoon Tenorio, Dev Bachani, and Kohtaro Goto, who are all playing in the collegiate ranks and have represented the NMI in the past, are the veteran players named on the team and will be joined by fellow NMI national team returnees Ronnel Ocanada, Tanapon Unsa, Brian Lubao, Daniel Pablo, Merrick and Markus Toves, and Jireh Yobech. Completing the team roster are young players Anthony Bergancia, Andrew Sablan, Akira Kadokura, Ariel Narvaez, Cody Shimizu, Leland Deleon Guerrero, Monico Claridades, Zhi Xiang Lin, Anthony Austria, and Vicente Reyes.

Ocanada and Yobech are the team captains, while NMIFA technical director Michiteru Mita is the head coach and will be assisted by Jersh Angeles. Chris Aninzo is the goalkeeper coach, while Sebastian Manabat and Jed Buenviaje are the kit manager and physiotherapist, respectively.

The NMI U23 Men’s National Team will be battling Guam in two games with the first one set for this Thursday, Aug. 3, at 8:30pm at the NMI Soccer Training Center in Koblerville and the second on Saturday, Aug. 5, at 5pm. This will be the first time that the NMI will host back-to-back games for the Marianas Football Cup.

“The first game is going to be very important, as you have to set the tone for the two-game format. We have to start strong, especially now that we are playing in front of the home crowd,” Yobech said.

Ocanada acknowledged the pressure of playing at home, but he said the team will take this as an added inspiration to go out there and play their best against Guam. As for having a bunch of young players, Ocanada said though this will be the first time for them to play in the Marianas Cup, these members of the team are no stranger to high-level competitions, as they’ve been to a couple of tournaments or played training matches off-island the past two years. The team was in Japan early last month for a training camp.

Meanwhile, Mita said that they welcome the two-tier format of the Marianas Football Cup 2023.

“This is a huge opportunity for our national teams playing international matches at home. I really appreciate the NMIFA, GFA, and our stakeholders and sponsors for working hard to bring back the Marianas Cup,” said Mita. The last Marianas Cup was hosted by Guam in 2019 before the pandemic hit and the trademark tournament between Guam and the NMI was shelved for three years.

“International soccer rapidly improves beyond our imagination. It is very important to play this kind of high level of international matches regularly to catch up to the Asian level. Both the NMI men’s and women’s national team take this opportunity very seriously and they continue to work hard to not only deliver best results, but also to strengthen the team and get ready for future international tournaments, like the EAFF and AFC competitions and the Solomon Islands Pacific Games,” the head coach added.

Mita said the men’s U23 squad players are mentally and physically ready to play Marianas Football Cup, as their weeklong training camp in Japan really helped prepare the team.

“The camp was supported by the Japan Football Association and we had it at the world standard facility J-Village in Fukushima. The team completely managed to focus only on playing soccer and played 3 games as simulation matches for the Marianas Cup. The team showed a lot of improvement and positive outlook during the training camp,” Mita said.

The head coach calls on the community to support the NMI national teams playing in the Marianas Football Cup 2023, which is supported by Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan, USA Fanter, Triple J, IT&E, Quality Distributors, GPPC, Tan Siu Lin Foundation, D&Q, TakeCare Insurance, the Marianas Visitors Authority, and Island Apparel. (PR)