THE country’s best young footballers will be in Cebu for a training camp this summer.
Oliver Colina, who was named the head coach of the RP Under-14 team, will head the training camp which is expected to start after the Holy Week. The team will represent the Philippines in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Under-14 Festival of Football on May 25 in Malaysia.
Colina will pick his roster in a tournament in San Carlos City on March 25 to 31, when the best football teams from Cebu City, Iloilo, Dumaguete and Bacolod will be playing in a tournament.
“I will be selecting the best 30 players to be included in the training camp,” Colina said yesterday.
After the San Carlos tournament, the 30 footballers that will be handpicked by Colina will be in Cebu City for their six-week training camp. From the 30, Colina will reduce the squad to 22 in the final lineup.
There isn’t a specific date yet for the training camp, but Colina said that it will definitely be after the Holy Week.
“We need a long preparation. We will be going back to basics. We will be focusing more on the skills,” said Colina.
But before the training camp, Colina will pass a budget proposal to the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) for financial assistance for the upcoming activities of the national squad.
Colina also wants two exhibition matches for the RP team—against the Cebu Elite 14-Under and 17-Under squads.
Aside from being the coach of the RP national Under-14 team, Colina is also the head coach of the Cebu City Elite 14-Under squad that will be competing in San Carlos City.
The team is composed of Marlon Ewayan, John Dexter Espiritu, Clint Ligan, Dominique Canonigo, Mark Joseph Arranguez, Antonino Rafols, Joshua Miguel Acebedo, Jaybee Malinao, Richel Villarba, Sean Low, Erwin Cortes, Kyle Knight, Rafi Lipardo, JR Dakay, Kennedy Cuizon, Ibo Caballero, Koko Gandiel, Adriane Paul Covero, Apollo Machacon, Christian Dave Paez, Marvin Dave Baroro and Shane Larry Sarmiento.
Colina, who is the coach of the University of Southern Philippines Foundation college squad, got his C license in coaching after passing the AFC Project Future Course last year in Sabah, Malaysia.
He is the only Filipino who was included in last year’s selection group, which is made up of the best young future coaches in the whole of Asia.
The selection group is composed of 24 coaches who passed the most recent examination last November. There were a total of 29 examiners from 22 different countries.