I'm seeing yellow!!!

This week was full of firsts!
During the Pika Raiders verses Wild Bill's game, Patty Coleman started the whole thing off by FINALLY getting women on the score board for COED soccer! Next year we have to try and keep track of assists too. She kicked one in for Pika off a beautiful assist from Morgan Rose. Way to go Patty!!!
Another first this week was John Ravell as Center referee during the Taya Talent and Pirate game. This was his first time at center. Thanks to people like him who come out and give up their free time we get well organized games. I have tried to referee before and I am telling you that it is a lot harder than it looks. John did a great job! He kept composure, had a great sense of humor and maintained professionalism.

Last but not least we had our first yellow cards of COED soccer. Two players received these cards for fouls. One for Taya Talent and one for Pirates. The crowd could not help noticing that the yellow cards did bear a close resemblance to green but we all understood that they were yellow. Where are the green cards?

Play hard, play well, and love the game!

Pirates Suck

In the second half EJ made a beautiful pass to Evan, who went on to score a goal.

We're not going to talk about the rest of the game.

Go Taya Talent!

East Asian Football Federation places Two in Semi-Finals of 2007 Asian Cup!

The East Asian Football Federation (of which the Northern Mariana Islands is a member) saw two of its most powerful squads emerge into the semi-fianls of the Asian Cup 2007 over the past week.

Japan got thru their group play and nudged Australia out in one quarter-finals with a 1-1, (4-3 PK) victory. This avenges the JFA loss to the Socceroos in last summer's World Cup in Germany. This marks the Australians first contest in the Asian Football Congress. Previously, they had been part of Oceania in the FIFA world.

Japan will play Saudia Arabia tonight in one semi-final at 20:20 local time in Hanoi, Vietnam. The Saudis defeated Uzbekistan, 2-1, in their semi-final.

South Korea is also in the semi-finals after surviving their group and defeating powerful Iran (0-0, 4-2 PK). They will face surprise semi-finalist, Iraq, in the other semi-fianl tonight in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia at 18:20 local time.

Go EAFF! Good luck in the semi-fianls!

Taya Talent takes on Fiesta Pirates tonight!

That's all I'm saying.

Wild Bill's 4, Pika Raiders 1

I was hoping for a Pika Raiders win tonight, but it didn't happen.

Dang it!

Even though the final score was 4-1, Wild Bill's scored two of their goals pretty late in the game. Most of the game was a pretty close matchup. Pika Raiders just sloppy and tired in the end.

Jason Schroeder scored the first two goals of the game. Pattie Coleman answered back with a goal for Pika Raiders to make it 2-1 at the half.

The two teams went back and forth for most of the second half, but Arkie and Jersh eventually found the back of the net.

Tomorrow's game is Guns n Roses Taya Talent vs. the Dread Pirates at 5:15 PM at CPA Airport Field.

NMIFA in the News

The women are looking for some players:

Saipan Tribune, Monday, July 23, 2007

Women's national team needs new members
By Jon Perez
Reporter

The CNMI National Women’s Football Team is looking for additional members that would complete their roster in time for next month's tune-up games against off-island teams.

Co-captains Morgan Rose and Brenda Schultz is calling on all interested female players to join in an eight-day tryout, which started last Saturday at the Commonwealth Ports Authority Field.

Schultz and Rose are forming a Women's All-Star team to play in a tune-up match between local and off-island men's teams on Aug. 4 and 5.

A men's 35-and-over team from Hong Kong will be arriving on Aug. 3 to play several goodwill matches against local squads.

The CNMI All-Stars co-captains of the women's team wanted to take this opportunity to hone their skills by going up against the Hong Kong squad.

Nationality and age will not be a factor for selection and the co-captains only need for those who wish to try out is being fearless and their dedication.

Only six slots are left in the All-Star women's squad. The practice/training sessions, which started at 8am on Saturday, will be held at the Airport Field.

The schedule of the tryouts from Sunday to Thursday is 5pm, while sessions start at 8am every Saturday. The tryout will run from July 21 to 24, July 28 to 30, and Aug. 2.

Early this year, the CNMI women's team played against the Guam National Women’s squad in the inaugural Marianas Cup, which served as a preparation of the Guam women’s for the East Asian Football Federation Women’s Championship.

The CNMI has also met the Guam women’s team in several friendly tournaments.
The Northern Mariana Island Football Association credits Marcos Alonso for starting the women’s program. NMIFA has twice organized a Women's League, which is one of their programs of promoting the sport in the CNMI.

NMIFA also organizes the men's, youth, and co-ed leagues.

Men's League, Week 1 Photos

The Korean Football Club and the Bangladeshi Sports Club opened up this year's Men's League.

The score was still 0-0 at the half. KFC scored twice in the second half, once off a cross and once on the rebound from a penalty kick.

The Bangladeshi Sports Club had multiple chances to score in the second half, but couldn't put the ball in the back of the net.

I hope we don't have to play too many 2:30 PM games. It was frickin' hot.

The second game between Fiesta Inter and PTI was a total blowout, which Fiesta Inter winning 8-2. It looked like it was going to be an even match.

Fiesta scored first, followed by PTI a few minutes later. They went into the half with Inter up by only 3-1.

Then Inter scored three goals in the first few minutes of the second half. PTI pretty much gave up after that.

A few of us watched the game from behind the Ada Field fence. This allowed us to BBQ and enjoy adult beverages. The fence also put a physical barrier between us and the players, allowing us to heckle them.