Men get their kicks at AMP

A day after the Northern Mariana Islands Football Association Women’s League wrapped up its season the men laced up their cleats and strapped on their shin guards at the American Memorial Park to usher in a new era of sport in the CNMI.

The world’s most popular sport finally gained sanctioned status on Saipan on Sunday as NMIFA kicked off the inaugural Men’s Open season with three matches on the Garapan pitch.

The seven-team league got underway when the PTI Guardians scored a 3-0 victory over the Independents thanks to an outstanding effort from Kamrul, who netted a natural hat trick to take the league’s scoring lead.

The two teams weren’t the only ones tearing up the turf as L&S/Kyung-Seung relied on the strength of its four first half goals to defeat Alliance, 4-0. Jetsada “Jesse” Phonsutjit and Jahangir Hossain worked the field and led their team by introducing leather to mesh early into the season.

According to league coordinator Vince Stravino the marquee match took place between Fiesta Inter and Korean One in which the Fiesta notched a closely contested 3-1 victory to start the day.

Nathan Tan scored the first goal in league history four minutes into the game to give Inter a 1-0 lead but Korean One started the second half with intensity and tied the game when Yongwoon Choi scored.

Arkie Resora used his noggin to net the go ahead goal on a perfect cross from Masatoshi Otsuka in the 52nd minute and Otsuka added insurance minutes later to seal the deal.

Real Mariana was the only team that sat idle but the squad will see action this weekend against L&S/Kyung-Seung at 430pm when the teams return to the American Memorial Park.

Alliance looks to even its record when it faces Fiesta Saipan at 2pm to start the second week of action followed by the contest between the PTI Guardians and Korean One at 3:15pm.