The Cebuano members of the Negros Occidental Football Association (NOFA) -Philippines are (from left to right) Mark Anthony Talingting Jr. and Renzo Angelo Enriquez of DBTC and Paref Springdale’s Ethan Jacob Roxas. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
CEBU CITY, Philippines—The Negros Occidental Football Association (NOFA)-Philippines bowed out of the 2019 Soong Ching Ling Cup China-ASEAN Youth Friendly after a scoreless draw against Laos, Monday morning, August 5, 2019 in Zhejiang, China.
The team manned by Under 13 players had three Cebuano booters in Ethan Jacob Roxas of Paref Springdale and Renzo Angelo Enriquez and Mark Anthony Talingting Jr., of Don Bosco Technical College (DBTC).
NOFA-Philippines was put in Group A in the elimination stage and started its campaign with a 2-2 draw against Malaysia.
The team then lost to the taller China team, 2-4, but recovered with a 5-0 routing of Singapore.
They then had a chance to advance to the crossover semifinals as only the top two teams can go into the knockout stage.
However, the scoreless draw against Laos ended the NOFA-Philippines stint in China.
The Soong Ching Ling Cup is an annual Under 13 eight-a-side football tournament aimed at promoting friendship and understanding between China and countries which are members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
It is hosted by the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation, the Chinese Football Federation, and the ASEAN-China Center. / celr