The U-16 team are the third women’s team that the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) has sent to an international tournament. Following in the footsteps of the U-14’s successful AFC campaign, and the modest showing of the senior women’s national team at the AFF Women’s Championship earlier this month, the U-16 girls have reached the qualifiers for the Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) U-16 Women’s Championship set to take place next year and are halfway through.
Marnelli “Let” Dimzon had been tasked to take the helm for the youth team, her first with the U-16, and has been preparing since as early as June. Dimzon flew to different parts of the country holding tryouts and then selected 30 members for an intensive four-week training camp in Clark, Pampanga, that included various tune-up friendlies with UAAP teams (the Far Eastern University, University of the Philippines, De La Salle University and Ateneo de Manila University) before eventually arriving at the final roster of 20.
The sole representative from Mindanao is Rena Clariza Agudolo (Zamboanga del Sur). Three represent Visayas in Mae Jan Tan (Negros Oriental) and Tejanee Marie Isulat and Christine Dale Pañares (both are from Negros Occidental). From Luzon are Marienell Cristobal (Pampanga), Michaela Maligalig (Laguna), with Glynnes Dela Cruz, Stacey Arthur, Andrea Tiongson and Regine Rebosura repping Metro Manila. Cristobal has the special distinction of having played in the U-14 team which took home the AFC silver medal earlier this year, while the other girls have played for U-14 teams in previous years. Coming all the way from North America are Faith Ruetas (Ontario, Canada), Hannah Villasin (New Jersey, USA), Tara Shelton (Washington, USA) with Danezza April Graellos, Denice May Graellos, Maeva Collatos, Erin O’Connor, Caitlin Levasseur, Isabella Mahoney and Gabrielle Breton all hailing from California, USA.
With Dimzon as the head coach, her staff consists of Patrice Impelido and Joyce Landagan as the assistant coaches; Kim Versales as the goalkeeper coach; and Eunice Maliuanag as the physical therapist. PFF official Lalaine Sarmiento is with the team as the head of delegation.
Since the U-16 team’s arrival in Weifang City last Friday, August 26, the Philippines has posted two big wins. Three days ago there was a particular sense of uncertainty usually reserved for the first match of a tournament. But the sentiment dissolved quickly when Isulat scored early in the 6th minute against India, then it turned to thrill by the time Tiongson added an assurance goal in the 75th to notch the Philippines’ first win. Ruetas, who wore the captain’s armband for the game, made sure to shut out India’s eager attacks, making one big save after another. For the second match yesterday, the girls blitzed their way to a 13-0 rout of Northern Mariana Islands, with Isulat again finding the net after just 22 seconds. She would go on to score three more (13th, 32nd, and 63rd minutes). Graellos (May) overwhelmed the Mariana Islanders when she doubled the Philippine lead in the 2nd minute, but the horror wasn’t over for them when Levassuer tripled it in the 6th. Even defenders got into the scoring frenzy when Collatos added one her own twelve minutes later and Dela Cruz in the 43rd. Together with midfielder Villasin’s 33rd minute goal the halftime score stood at 8-0. The Islanders’ defense faltered again early in the half when Graellos (April) sneaked in a goal just two minutes after restart. Eight minutes later Mahoney brought the score to double figures. The Islanders labored to get the ball away from their half of the field, and in the rare moments that they managed to break through, goalkeeper O’Connor defused all their hope. With ten minutes left in the game, Arthur, who also served as captain, turned heads with a long range cracker. Four minutes later, substitute Rebosura wrapped things up with the last goal. To date, Tejanee Isulat has been named by AFC officials as the Player of the Match for both the India and NMI games.
The Philippines currently sit at the top of the table with 6 points and a goal difference advantage of 15. They get a bye on matchday three, then resume play two days later on September 3, Saturday at 4:00 P.M. against the toughest opponent in the group, Korea Republic. The team will end proceedings on September 5 at 11:00 A.M. versus familiar foes Malaysia.
Every match in the qualifiers is a crucial one, with only one team progressing from the group to the finals at the AFC U-16 Women’s Championship next year. The next fixture against Korea will be a real test for the Philippines U-16 team, but head coach Dimzon is not daunted. “We will do some adjustments in our defending shape and we’ll give individual tasking for some players,” she said. Dimzon will look into the strengths of her rotation adding emphasis on defense, but she assured that the team will not bunker down. “We will still do the same attacking pattern,” she promised.
