THE Philippine Under 14 football team otherwise known as the Little Azkals will once again get a chance to prove that it is the country’s future in the sport when they face Chelsea FC U14 in the first of their two exhibition matches this 3 p.m. at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila.
The team, which finished third in the Japan-East Asean Football Exchange Programme U-14 Youth Football Festival held at the J-Green Sakai, in Osaka Japan last year, will be missing the services of striker Dimitri Lionel “Troy” Limbo, who was not allowed by his school to play.
While Limbo cheers his teammate from the sidelines, Jovan Marfiga will be taking his place in the right wing.
Aside from Limbo, the team will also be missing Kintaro “King” Miyagi, Gio Pabualan, John William Abraham and Shanden Vergara. The four have prior commitments.
Head coach Oliver Colina said they will be following their usual formation—the 4-4-1-1.
According to Colina, their two practices yesterday were focused on refreshing their system of play and team work as they come from different parts of the country and have not had a chance for a longer bonding after their training camp last December was cancelled.
The last time that the national U14 has played together was in October where they clinched the first runner-up honors in the 5th Pintaflores National U16 Invitational Football Cup in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental.
In today’s game, Colina said that they will also lessen their man-to-man markings. Team captain Jed Diamante of Davao will take on the role of striker while assistant team captain Josh Miller of Manila will be part of the back four./CORRESPONDENT MARS G. ALISON
Cebu Daily News
Go Little Azkals!!!
ReplyDeleteAsI been writing before , this is a Chelsea Soccer School from Korea U14 who is playing not the English Chelsea U14.
ReplyDeleteLittle Azkals leading 6-1 at HT
FT score 6-1.
ReplyDeleteso your saying this korea U14 is not good??
ReplyDeleteDont know the quality of this Korean Chelsea team, but I dont think they are too good, still a good result for Little Azkals
ReplyDeleteKorean Chelsea U14 team reportedly drew a filipino team 2-2 yesterday.
I always thought Chelsea FC Korea will lost to our Little Azkals but if South Korea National team U14 was here it will be the other way around..
ReplyDeletePositions of the four players who didn't join the team are as follows: Gio Pabualan (born 1999)- Striker /winger, Kintaro Miyagi born 1998)- center full back, John Abraham (1998)-center full back, Shanden Vergara(born 1999) - central attacking midfielder/winger
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of Korean Chelsea Team is this? Paano hindi tayo manalo e may babae pa. Ano ba yan! lol. Waste of time, money and effort on the part of the Filipino players who came from the provinces just to play this game.
ReplyDeleteTama ka Anonymous 25 January 2013 15:23, lalo na't ang mga players pa ang nagbayad ng kanilang mga pamasahe patungong Metro Manila. Until now ang PFF ay wla pa ring budget sa category na ito.
DeleteIt's just one of countless independent football academies in Korea including foreign-funded ones. Most of elite kids there belong to K-League clubs' official academies or schools affiliated with the clubs, so i don't really think we need to be seduced by the name Chelsea here.
ReplyDeleteAnd besides, don't set too much count on the result at this young age. In most football advanced countries, they don't teach kids at this age how to win the game. They just stick to strong fundamentals and creativeness. About 10 to 15 years ago i even witnessed a Thai's youth club winning some world competition over European and South American teams, and Thai U-16 national team winning the official Asian championship, but where are they now ?
So i don't really care much about all these sweet results of little azkals recently. I mean, i just hope PFF and all the involved staffs do the right things to these kids in a long term view and i will just wait and support quietly.
Trully said, that winning isn't important in this stage. Let the Little Azkals be given some quality training here and abroad and coaches should not focused on bulking up their muscles early as well as recruiting big players over small but talented and skillfull kids. We should emulate Barcelona philosophy by developing the likes of Messi, Xavi, Iniesta and Fabregas.
DeleteThe best solution is to have them in one school next year so they can train everyday and surely will have a bright future ahead.