Guam’s Curtis Harmon reaches out for the interception against Team NMI during a friendly match held over the weekend at the NMI Soccer Training Center in Koblerville.
THE Northern Mariana Islands Men’s Soccer Team came out victorious in one of the two friendly games they played against Guam over the weekend at the NMI Soccer Training Center in Koblerville.
During the first match on Saturday, the NMI controlled most of the possession with Markus Toves connecting the opening goal within the first eight minutes of play for a 1-0 lead.
Guam managed to flip the script in the second half and successfully turned defense into offense several times. Their efforts were rewarded as Erwin Manibusan connected their first goal at the 48th minute mark while Samuel Stenson followed up with another goal at the 60th minute to seize the lead, 2-1.
But the NMI continued to fight until the very end. At the 71st minute mark, the NMI’s pressure caused chaos deep in Guam’s territory. The visiting team failed to secure the ball and ended up scoring in their own goal by accident to tie the game, 2-2.
Both teams aimed for the game-winning goal, but neither was able to find the back of the net and had to settle for a draw.
Victorious
On Sunday, the NMI managed to slip past Guam, 2-1.
Once again, the NMI started strong with an early goal by Airel Narvaez Jr. at the 6th minute mark of the first half for a 1-0 lead.
Later in the second half, the NMI’s Paul Lizama connected the second consecutive goal for his team at the 68th minute mark to extend the deficit, 2-0.
Although Guam answered back with a goal by Curtis Harmon at the 74th minute mark, the NMI managed to hold their ground for the remainder of the match to secure the win, 2-1.
“These friendlies against Guam are very important to us,” NMI Head Coach Konomo Suzuki said.
“These give us the opportunities to play games at a high-intensity level,” he added. “In the first match in the men’s division, we had some challenges in our defense in the middle third as well as building up, so in the second match we made some adjustments. We’re very happy with how the players played for two consecutive days and worked on improving their games and giving their 100% effort on both ends of the pitch. All the players contributed to the results we produced in the two games and also the people that showed up, watched the matches, and supported our players. Moving forward, we will work on our physical fitness and as well as better execution of team plays. We need to work more on our attacking strategies as a group,” Suzuki said.
For his part, Guam Coach Ross Awa said, “Our guys worked on dominating possessions — we just need to work more on executions and strong finish. I also commend the NMI national team because even though these are just friendlies, they played no letup, the intensity was there all throughout the game and they really pushed our guys hard. We have lots of young guys on the team and it’s good to give them more game time experience for future competitions outside Guam. This year, we will be preparing for the AFC U17 and U20 qualifiers.”
