Northern Marianas Islands Football Association will start the 2009 season of the NMIFA Men\u2019s Football League this Sunday at the Oleai Sports Complex with a new team in Remington.<\/p>\n
Remington will join six other teams in their bids for the championship trophy. Making another appearance in the men\u2019s league are Inter Godfather\u2019s, Matansa Football Club, Independent Football Club, MP United, Korea One, and FC Arirang.<\/p>\n
Brad Ruszala, who is coordinating the event, along with Jaime Saiki, said local organizers are looking forward to one of the most competitive seasons in the league with the addition of Remington in the field.<\/p>\n
\u201cRemington pulled talented players from a number of clubs, so they should be a threat right from the start,\u201d Ruszala said in an email to Saipan Tribune.<\/p>\n
Ruszala is reminding players to pay the $25 registration fee and submit entry forms to NMIFA\u2019s office at the third floor of TSL Plaza in Garapan on or before the second week of the season. He added teams have until the end of the first round to settle the $300 team entrance fee or face forfeiture of their remaining games.<\/p>\n
The complete schedule of the games for the first round will be released tomorrow.<\/p>\n
The last time NMIFA hosted a men\u2019s event was in November when it held the fall league.<\/p>\n
Inter-Godfather\u2019s outlasted MP United-PTI in a shootout, 5-4, to rule the 2008 NMIFA Men\u2019s Football Fall League.<\/p>\n
CNMI National player Peter Loken scored the winning goal, hitting one to the upper right corner to give Inter-Godfather\u2019s three championship trophies in 2008. Inter defeated Onwel, 1-0, in the finals of the President\u2019s Cup Football Tournament in March last year and FC Arirang, 2-1, in the 2008 Saipan Cup in August.<\/p>\n
Only four teams competed in the fall league with the list including Independent Wild Bill\u2019s and Multinational FC. The four teams played in a double round-robin regular season and then went through a crossover semifinals format in the playoffs.<\/p>\n
Inter-Godfather\u2019s was seeded first in the playoffs, collided with Multinational FC, and won the semifinals, 1-0. The third-seeded MP United-PTI pulled off a 2-1 upset over the second-ranked Wild Bill\u2019s in the other semis pairing to arrange a title duel with Inter-Godfather\u2019s. Wild Bill\u2019s finished third place after blanking Multinational FC in the consolation game, 2-0.<\/p>\n
For more information about the upcoming men\u2019s league, contact Saiki at 287-9810 or Ruszala at 287-2723.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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