CVFA U-17 team to play in Indonesia tourney
The CVFA U-17 squad poses for a group photo at the Dynamic Herb Borromeo Sports Complex at the SRP in Cebu City. | Contributed Photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines—The Central Visayas Football Association (CVFA) will be playing in the Transtama Garuda International Cup II from June 30 to July 3, 2022 in Sentul Bogor, Indonesia.
This marks CVFA’s first international football tournament after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
CVFA will be fielding in its under-17 squad which was preparing amidst the celebration and excitement surrounding the success of the CVFA U-19 squad that topped Group E of the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) U-19 National Championship Division 2 Visayas Leg earlier this month.
According to team manager Alvin Roxas who is also the CVFA director, their campaign in Indonesia is part of the association’s football restart.
CVFA has been extra busy these past few months organizing major football tournaments to revive the sport not just in Cebu but also in the entire Visayas.
Aside from hosting the PFF U-19 group stage, CVFA and DepEd partnered last May to stage the Palarong Pambansa bubble football tournament.
“It’s our first international tournament post-pandemic. CVFA is trying to restart football in Cebu. We already did the Palarong Pambansa and the PFF U-19, and now it’s our U17 team’s turn by playinng in the Garuda Cup. We’re trying to show that we’ve restarted safely. And now it’s our turn for the U17 team, to compete internationally to see how they do things there,” Roxas told CDN Digital.
“At the same time, we can gauge on how our teams fare with the two-year lay-off and how it took its toll to see what our teams have become since we’re very competitive before.”
The team is comprised of players from Paref Springdale, Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu, Don Bosco Technology Center and Dumaguete City.
Like the U-19 team, this squad has been preparing for months already. Roxas revealed that CVFA’s U-19 team prepared slightly ahead of them.
“Halos dungan ni siya sa pag start ug training U-19, nauna lang gamay ang U-19, a month or two ago. We received an invitation from the PFF to participate in the Garuda Cup. The guys from the PFF, told us if we would want to assemble a U17 team. Tan-aw namo, okay ra man because a lot of our players played in the U19 and wee added a few players lang,” added Roxas.
Roxas said that it’s going to be a very tough competition in Indonesia especially as the hosts are expected to field in a top-notch team.
However, Roxas assured Cebuano football fans that their team can compete well as the roster was carefully selected by CVFA and underwent intensive training.
The team’s roster is comprised of Jacob Wayne Almendras, Jared Willy Almendras, Fritz Marco Amazona, Liam Michael Cergneux, John Lexter Conde, Gianrenzo Andres Custado, Aaron Nathan Dionaldo, Joseph Kyne Garces, Nathan Khail Lingatong, Eugene Christian Molleno, Edgar Paredes III, Carsten Pumareja, John Mehl Rondrique, Ethan Jacob Roxas, James Benedict Rufin, Lucas Sarmiento, Mariano Cesar Javier Sian, and Marcus Whysall.
The coaching staff is composed of head coach Glen Ramos, who also coached the CVFA U-19 squad, along with Dennis Dokas, and Larry Chew.
The team will leave for Indonesia on Tuesday, June 28, 2022.
/bmjo
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