Little Azkals confident of title chances in AFC U14

By Mars Alison
Cebu Daily News


THE Philippine Under-14 football team better known as the Little Azkals arrived in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah Malaysia last Monday to vie in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Under 14 Festival of Football 2012 Southeast Asia Region.

The matches will start today and end on June 4 and will be held at the Likas Stadium, which is a 10-minute walk from where the participants are billeted at the Likas Square Condotel.

The Little Azkals are composed of Cebu’s Lawrence “Soysoy” Colina, Major Dean Ebarle, Kintaro Miyagi, Moiselle Angelo Alforque and Vincent Erik Lovitos; Manila’s Marco Alessandro Casambre, Harrel Rainier Dayan, Josh Albert Miller, Ray Vincent Sanciangco and John William Abraham; Cagayan de Oro’s Jeremiah Borlongan and Dimitri Lionel Limbo; Davao’s Darius Joseph Diamante and Javier Romero-Salas; Dumaguete’s Christian Floren Lapas and Jose Anton Yared, Dipolog’s Sebastian Rafael Patangan; San Carlos City’s Mason Trent Vergara and Shanden Vergara; Bukidnon’s Chester Gio Pabualan; Masbate’s Jovan Marfiga and Italy’s Lorenzo Genco.

Diamante is retained as the team captain while Miller is his assistant.

Except for Pabualan and Marfiga, this is the same lineup that went to Palermo, Italy for a training camp hosted by A.S.D. Sport Village Tommaso Natale Scuola Calcio Giacomo Tedesco where they won eight of  12 friendly games.

Pabualan and Marfiga replaced Jose Romulo Cadiz and Jhenry Hamdan. Cadiz did not make the cut for Malaysia while Hamdan opted not to join the team anymore for personal reasons.

READY AND PREPARED

Head coach Oliver “Bingbing” Colina, who went ahead to Malaysia for a coaches’ seminar along with the team’s physiotherapist Keziah Shan, said that he hopes the team will have a good performance in the tournament because this is what they have been training rigidly for the whole summer.

Diamante said he believes the team is well prepared. “If there’s anything lacking, it will be perhaps self-discipline,” said Diamante.

Aside from the Philippines, also seeing action are Indonesia, Thailand, Laos, Singapore, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, Timor Leste and host Malaysia along with newcomers Brunei and Australia bringing the number to 12 teams.

Last year, the team won against Cambodia twice and Laos once while it drew Indonesia, Laos, and Singapore and lost to Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia.

This year, Diamante picked Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam as favorites.

Aside from Colina and Shan, the team is accompanied by manager Richard Montayre and assistant coaches Eliezer Fabroada and Eleazar Toledo and goalkeeping coach Noel Marcaida.