16 August 2011

Nat’l Under-19 football team gets ready for AFF tournament

The Philippine Musangs, the country’s Under-19 national football team, is now training in Bago city.

Composed of 20 players chosen from over 600 aspirants in try-outs conducted across the country, the team has been in seclusion in the football camp for over a month now.

The squad is preparing for the Asian Football Federation U19 Championship set September 8 to 21 in Yangon, Myanmar.

Former Negros Occidental 4th District congressman Charlie Cojuangco is team manager and program director of the football camp while Maor Rozen from the Royal Spanish Football Federation and the Uruguayan Football Association is the head coach.

The players were selected in try-outs conducted by Cojuangco and his team in Tarlac, Manila, Cebu, Iloilo, Negros Occidental and Davao. They came from football associations of Davao, National Capital Region, Cebu and Compostela Valley. There are two half Filipinos, from Italy and Canada.

To be introduced to the public at the end of the football camp, the team is called the Philippine Musangs after the civet cat which is endemic to the Philippines.

“The Musang is stealthy and ferocious, and very resourceful when challenged,” Cojuangco said, adding that these are the “characteristics which a football team needs to succeed.”

Cojuangco is pragmatic about the team, saying other countries have been training theirs for years already. But he said he wants a team that is going to be known for its football skills, not for the players’ looks.

Also, we want to train them to become better persons as much as we want them to be better players, he added. We cannot produce good players with the wrong values, he said.

“We are not under pressure of any expectation,” Cojuangco said he told the team, “except the expectation that we will give the best in everything that we do.”

He added he had always believed football is the sport where Filipinos can excel. Cojuangco is president of the Negros Occidental Football Association and a director of the Philippine Football Federation.

Aside from the competitions, Rozen said the team should also be a good training ground to supply players for the U-23 category. Then, the U-23 players could graduate into the Philippine Azkals, the country’s national men’s team, he added.

The players, most of whom are in high school and in the first years of college, are into a special education program that allows them to catch up with their classmates when they go back to their schools after being absent for the training and the competitions.*

Visayan Daily Star



16 comments:

  1. Walang representative ang Negros Oriental? Nag 3rd yata ang Team at may players din na kasama sa CVRAA Football team na nag champion sa Palaro?

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  2. musangs am pota haha. at least hindi teen azkals or kung ano pang kagagohan na ganun.

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  3. I think mustang yan nagkamali lang,mayron naman cguro from negros oriental.pero hindi galing nang palarong pambansa.kasi secondary at elementary lang ang palaro.

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  4. teen azkals = sounds like team titans.. haha... !

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  5. the big question is.... why is iloilo not represented? they were the champions at the last summer's national under-19 championships!!!

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  6. @anonymous : Hopefully this article is not correct , they cant field a PFF U19 NT without players from Iloilo ?

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  7. There probably is one. I have never heard of a national team without a player from the western visayas. Team manager Cojuangco is from that region.

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  8. sus ano ba yan siyempre may players galing iloilo, neg occ at negros oriental. taga negros si charlie.. hahaha. lol

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  9. haha musangs civet cat yan mahal yung ehem niya ginagawang kape. hahaha

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  10. the big question is.... why is iloilo not represented? they were the champions at the last summer's national under-19 championships!!!

    Football: Iloilo Captures PFF Men’s National U-19 title . Individual awards were also given to outstanding players. Julius Sumagaysay of Iloilo Football Association romped off with Best Goalkeeper award; his teammate Jenery Gabuan won the Best Defender award; Paolo Salenga of National Capital Region Football Association-B (NCR) as Best Striker; and native of San Carlos City and regular member of Negros Occidental Football Association (NOFA) loaned to Iloilo, John Marcellana was voted Most Valuable Player.
    gusto mo iloilo lang mag represent. lol

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  11. Who from Cebu made the team?

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  12. I think we should just wait until the final roster is announced. We are all just speculating and getting upset unnecessarily about a roster that has not been announced yet. Let us just be patient.

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  13. NO!!! i dont want iloilo to represent the u-19 nt, what i want is, somebody from team iloio who won the u-19 to play for the u-19 nt.
    anyway , nothing is final yet, lets wait until the final roster is made.

    anon(the big question)

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  14. impossible walang taga ilo-ilo at negros oriental..hindi na dapat tinatanong yan...yung dalawang finalist ng U19 ay Ilo-Ilo vs NCR pero mga player ng NCR ay galing sa Negros Oriental at Ilo-Ilo..isa pa ang Negros Oriental ang tumalo sa Negros Occidental sa illimination...alangan naman galing lang sa Negros Occidental lahat eh hindi nga sila umabot sa semis...

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  15. How can I join?

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  16. you are 6 months too late...

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