By Mars G. Alison
Seven Cebuano booters have been chosen to be part of the Philippine Under 14 training pool in preparations for the Japan – ASEAN U14 Football Exchange Programme in Osaka, Japan this April.
Four of the booters are from football powerhouse Don Bosco Technology Center (DBTC) namely Roygbiv Barro, Kyle Adrian Ronquillo and Mark Oriel Unabia.
The rest of the seven are Leo Gabriel Maquiling of the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (SHS-AdC), Jessie Reil Semblante of the Don Bosco Boys Home in Liloan and Marcel Ivan Ouano and Loyd Soco of the University of Southern Philippines Foundation. Soco is also from the Giuseppe Football Club.
The seven Cebuano booters will be joining the rest of those selected for the training pool in a training camp from March 16 to 31 at the University of the Philippines Los Banos, Laguna.
All expenses for the training camp will be shouldered by the Philippine Football Federation, according to Rico Navarro, the vice president of the Cebu Football Association.
This is not the first time that the Philippine Under-14 team has been invited by the Japan Football Association (JFA) to play in a tournament in Japan.
In 2012, the then Philippine Under 14 tagged as the Little Azkals was also invited to the Japan-East Asean Football Exchange Programme U-14 Youth Football Festival held at the J-Green Sakai, in Osaka, Japan wherein the Pinoys finished third among six countries trailing Japan which took the top spot and Indonesia in the second.
Other countries who saw action then were Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia and Singapore.
The team then was coached by Oliver “Bingbing” Colina, also a Cebuano.
That team also had Cebuano members in University of Southern Philippines Foundation’s Lawrence “Soysoy” Colina and Major Dean Ebarle; Kintaro Miyagi of SHS-AdC; Vincent Erik Lovitos of DBTC and Lorenzo Genco of Giuseppe FC.
Ebarle, Miyagi and Lovitos are now playing for the Philippine Under-16 squad.
