CNMI limits China to 3 goals

The CNMI U14 National Team’s defense held its ground against China in the first half of the opening game in the AFC U14 Regional Festival of Football 2015 before giving up three goals to the hosts in the second half last Wednesday at the National Football Training Centre in Beijing.

Members of the CNMI U14 National Team perform warm-up drills during a training session at the Oleai Sports Complex Field last month. The squad is now in Beijing, competing in a festival against four other teams. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

“The first half was a very exciting game. We held China to no goals,” said team manager Derek Chambers in an email sent to Northern Mariana Islands Football Association officials.

Chambers added that the Teen Ayuyus had a couple of attempts in the first 30 minutes of play with the closest one coming from midfielder Jonathan Capayas.

“Jonathan had a beautiful shot that hit the cross bar, but bounced off. It was so close,” the team manager said.

Capayas started out for the Luam Khen Koo-coached squad along with goalie Clayton Izuka, fellow midfielders Joshua Abragan, Joshua De Leon, and Thaiphi Austria, defenders Cole Chambers, Cody Leon, Dai Podziewski, and Leandro Bichayda, and forwards Eddie Cho and John Michael Rojas.

Some of the starters eventually had to take a breather in the second half, as tournament rules require all players to see action in the game. John Joseph Bucayo came in for Izuka, while Johan Pohl and Mark Esalan also began to play for the CNMI in the second half and about 10 minutes later, China finally found the back of the net. Next to check in for the visiting squad were Andruw Omelau, Logan Mister, Sebastien Manabat, and David Mafnas, while China also substituted its starters and got two more goals midway in the second half.

“Our defense was getting tired in the second half. China scored in the final half, but they had to work hard to get those. Logan made some good saves on defense, while Andruw popped a couple of balls over the defense and let Jonah and David take a few runs at the goal. I think we had a few more attempts in the second half than the first,” Chambers said.

“We were very pleased with the outcome of the game. The boys really played as a team and kept their ‘shape’ (that was what I heard the coaches saying). The game really put us all in good mood for the rest of the day. We heard that the other game this morning (last Wednesday) between Japan and Macau was something like 14-0 in favor of Japan. That made us feel even better that we held China to only three goals,” Chambers said.

After completing their first game in the morning, the CNMI players held a practice session in the afternoon and an hour later watched the match between Korea and Guam.

“We arrived almost exactly on time (4pm), but the game had already started and North Korea had already scored. They continued to score about once every five minutes or so. It was painful to watch, not that we cared that much for Guam, but because we know that this ((North Korea) will be the team we play last. We will really have to play very hard to not let North Korea score that much,” the team manager said.

The Teen Ayuyus will challenge North Korea this Sunday at 9am for their final match in Group A. Yesterday the CNMI was scheduled to meet Chinese-Taipei also at 9am, while tomorrow the Commonwealth crew faces Guam at 4:30pm.

Hong Kong, South Korea, and Mongolia are the other teams participating in the festival and are grouped with Macau and Japan. Since the event follows a festival format, no champions will be declared, however the team with no yellow cards or fewest yellow cards will win the Fair Play award.