By Cheska D. Geli
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
THE Little Azkals, the national Under-14 squad, will be competing in its first tournament this year, the Under-14 division of the 9th Thirsty Cup, which opens this weekend.
Their participation will kickstart the team's preparation for the AFC Under-14 Football Festival.
The team will be competing in football festivals in Davao on Feb. 17, San Carlos on Feb. 22, and Iligan on March 2, before going on a 20-day training camp in Italy in April.
But the team will not be playing with its regular roster of players as only players from the Visayas and Mindanao will be able to play for the national team.
Four Cebuano players will also be missed as they are expected to play for their mother teams.
Only Lawrence Colina of the University of Southern Phlippines will be playing for the squad in the Thirsty Cup.
Head coach Oliver Colina also said there is still no final lineup for the players going to the Italy camp because of the difficulty in gathering the student players from different areas in the country.
In connection with this, Cebu already held the tryouts for the Under-14 team that will play in the San Carlos Football Festival against teams from Iloilo, Dumaguete and Bacolod.
Colina will be present in all these tournaments to observe his players, as he will use the players� performance in these tournaments as gauge for the selection of athletes, who will train in Italy.
The football festival serves two purposes for the Little Azkals�to train the current members of the team and to scout for potential team members.
"We are looking forward to the products of the football festival who will be future members of the Little Azkals," said Colina.
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on February 08, 2012.
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