Bumper crop of talents seen to form PHL U-19 football team

A bumper crop of talent showed up in the first two legs of the tryouts for the national U-19 football team that will compete in the Asean Football Federation (AFF) Youth Championship in Myanmar in September. More than 70 young booters from various clubs and colleges in Metro Manila attended the NCR leg at the football fields of University of Makati and Ateneo de Manila University last Monday and Tuesday, while 112 players participated in the open tryouts for Luzon at the Tarlac Recreation Center in San Jose, Tarlac over the weekend. Team manager Charlie Cojuangco said the result is an indication that Philippine football is back on its feet. "The outcome is an indication that there is talent in the grassroots level of Philippine football. It's just a matter of finding the right players," said Cojuangco, who is also the president of the Negros Occidental Football Association. Maor Rozen, the Spanish-Uruguay coach appointed by Cojuangco to handle the team, said talents are overflowing in Luzon and NCR alone. He expects to finalize the members of the pool once the tryouts shift to Visayas and Mindanao. "I am very pleased with what I saw," said Rozen, a former campaigner in the Uruguay premier league. "This early, I have already seen 20 to 30 good players who can compete in the seniors division." Tryouts for the Visayas leg will be held at the Sta. Barbara plaza in Iloilo at 2:30 p.m. Thursday and the Barotac Nuevo plaza also in Iloilo at 2:30 pm on Friday, before shifting to Panaad Stadium in Bacolod on Saturday at 2:30 pm and Sunday at 8:30 a.m,, and at the Aboitiz Field in Cebu on March 24 and 25 at 2:30 pm. In Mindanao, tryouts will be held at the Philips Football Field in Bukidnon at 2:30 p.m. on March 26 and 7:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. on March 27, while Davao will host the event at the Tionko Field Bolton Riverside at 4:30 pm on March 28 and 29. The national tryouts will wrap up at the UP football field in Los Banos, Laguna on March 31 at 2:30 p.m. Interested parties may contact KC Hernandez at 0917 8371544 or via e-mail at kch.u19phil@gmail.com or philippine_football_federation@yahoo.com. - KY, RCJ, Reuben Terrado, GMA News