By Roselyn B. Monroyo
Variety News Staff

THE NMI Men’s National Football team will be leaving for Guam tomorrow morning to complete their preliminary playoff round matches in the East Asian Football Federation Championships against the host squad at Harmon Field.
Saipan hosted the first match with Guam escaping with a 3-2 victory. The team to score the most goals in two games will advance to the next round. The EAAF championships will be held in Macau in June.
Game 2 of the NMI-Guam preliminary playoff is set for 6 p.m.
“Sunday’s game will be tougher than the first one because we will be playing on a bigger field with a hostile crowd,” coach Jeff “Ziggy” Korytoski said in a telephone interview yesterday.
“But I hope we prepared enough to stand the pressure,” he added.
In Game 1, Saipan almost pulled an upset against the much experienced Guam squad tying the match twice, before Guam midfielder Zachary Pangelinan made the winning goal in the 78th minute.
Pangelinan, who scored two goals, and Alan Jamison, who made the first goal in Game 1, will be marked men in Game 2.
“We have to be more aggressive on defense to limit Guam’s scoring chances. We did it in the first game and we must continue hustling for the ball and watching those guys to have a good chance in Sunday’s game,” Korytoski said.
On offense, the NMI coach said they hope to capitalize on their height advantage.
The NMI has several players standing 6-foot and above.
Mark McDonald used his height advantage over Guam goalie Brett Maluwelmeng and Edward Calvo to score a front header for the NMI’s first goal in last Sunday’s game.
Stamina will also be a factor this weekend.
“We have to hang in there and hopefully wear out Guam to open scoring opportunities,” Korytoski said.
Since the game will be played in the evening, Korytoski is hoping his players will not get tired as early as they did last Sunday.
Three NMI players were carried off the Oleai Sports Complex Field last Sunday, mainly due to dehydration, as the game started at 4 p.m. with the sun still up.
“I can’t say if the evening game will work to our advantage because Guam is a younger team and maybe can play two straight games without getting exhausted so it’s very important for us to stay in the game longer than last Sunday’s match,” the NMI coach said.
Korytoski added that there will be slight changes in the team’s starting lineup. Last Sunday, goalie Ross Benjamin Wood started for the NMI team, along with Chris Nelson, Dale Roberts, Yoshi Gabaldon, David Duenas, Tyce Mister, Vince Stravino, Angelo Villagomez, Peter Houk, Michael Hall and McDonald. Michael Thomas and Bruce Berline came off the bench. Other members of the team are Jonathan Mafnas, Brad Ruszala, Lucas Knecht, Christopher Leon Guerrero, Wesley BOgdan, Kyle Cabael and Aaron Lee.
Korytoski said they will bring only 20 players to Guam.
NMI women’s team hopes to hold ground vs Guam
Before the men’s match, Korytoski will be coaching the NMI women’s team in its first official game against Guam for the inaugural Marianas Football Cup.
The women’s game is set for 3 p.m.
“I am not expecting to much from our women’s team. I just want them to put on a good show,” Korytoski said.
The NMI coach added that the results of the match will reflect what the team and the Northern Mariana Islands Football Association have accomplished for women’s soccer in a short period of time.
“This game is very important, not because we want to win, but because we want to know how far we have come since starting the women’s program in the CNMI,” Korytoski said.
Korytoski has heard little about the Guam women’s team, but he knows the squad is in the middle of the world rankings.
“They are also a lot younger than we are,” he added.