Guam’s Morgan McKenna dribbles past the NMI’s Dev Bachani during the second game of the Marianas Friendlies at the NMI Soccer Training Center in Koblerville on Sunday.
The NMI’s Paul Lizama slides in an attempt to intercept the possession against Guam during the first game of the Marianas Friendlies at the NMI Soccer Training Center in Koblerville on Saturday.
GUAM defeated the NMI Men’s National Team in both matches of the Marianas Friendlies at the NMI Soccer Training Center over the weekend.
On day 1 of the highly anticipated event, both teams gave it their all, but it was Guam that came out victorious, 2-1.
Both teams not only battled each other, but the weather as well as it played a huge factor in Saturday’s match. Throughout the first 10 minutes, Guam controlled most of the action and finished nearly each possession with shot attempts. The NMI had their fair share of offensive highlights as well, but the Guamanians held their ground, denying every shot that came through to end the first half scoreless, 0-0.
In the second half, Guam started to apply more pressure and after several attempts were finally rewarded at the 53rd minute mark with Shuntaro Suzuki capitalizing off the scuffle to find the back of the net and put them in the lead, 1-0.
Guam continued to ride the momentum as they remained in control of the possession. After just seven minutes of back-and-forth action, they were able to break down the NMI’s line of defense using an overhead pass to find Michael Casteneda for the finish at the 60th minute mark and extend the gap, 2-0.
Despite falling behind, the NMI never gave up the fight and eventually broke the silence thanks to Dev Bechani, who forced the ball past the goalie at the 72nd minute mark to close the distance, 2-1.
However, time was not on the NMI’s side. They failed to connect the equalizer and had to accept defeat at the hands of Guam.
Game 2
On Sunday, Guam trounced the NMI, 8-0.
Guam’s Marcus Lopez connected the opening goal within the first seven minutes of play while teammate James Gomez added another at the 18th minute mark to lead, 2-0.
While the NMI struggled to find an answer, Guam unleashed a bombardment of goals.
Erwin Manibusan of Guam scored two goals at the 47th and 61st minute marks, while Gomez completed the hat-trick with back-to-back goals at the 70th and 72nd minute marks. Teammates Kristian Cruz and Michael Castaneda added a goal each at the 74th and 88th minute marks, respectively, to seal the 8-0 victory.
