At Saipan International Airport
We have arrived safely in Japan and have one warm up game under our belt. We played the Japan United Football Club U18's in a game composed of 3 - 30 minute periods. Everyone on the team had an opportunity to play. This morning we have practice. Tonight at 8:00 PM under the lights we will play the Japan United Football Club Women's Team. Unfortunately, I do not have game pictures to post. Hopefully we can get some posted soon.
Our local paper had another great article about the CNMI WNT this morning:
The CNMI Women's Football Team left Saipan early yesterday morning for the East Asian Football Federation Women's Football Championship 2010 Semifinals Competition in Tainan City, Taiwan.
The team is composed of Natalie Hill, Madison Smith, Carrie Knight, Angela Shyrack, Meaghan Hassel-Shearer, Brenda Schultz, Linday Davis, Melody Matson, Zoe Jewell, Katie Peters, Michiko Tenorio, Patricia Coleman, Brianna Martin, Amber Roberts, Rebecca Newman, Maryana Gramlich, Amanda Allen, Emily Gries, Elisa Fejeran, and Felicia McFarland. Northern Mariana Islands Football Association technical director Sugao Kambe is the team's coach.
Kambe and his female strikers boarded a 4am flight that would take them first to Chiba, Japan before they go to Taiwan. Joining them are NMIFA officials Ken Imaya and Elna Curate and staff Sarah Brostom.
In Japan, the CNMI bets were scheduled to duel the JEF United Ichihara Chiba Ladies U-18 yesterday afternoon for an exhibition game. Today, the CNMI Women's Football Team will collide against the JEF United's Ichihara Chiba Ladies.
The Commonwealth's female strikers will leave Japan tomorrow in time for the EAFF tournament, which will run from Aug. 22 to 30.
The CNMI Women's Football Team will play against South Korea, Guam, Hong Kong, and host Chinese-Taipei. All of CNMI's foes are world-ranked teams, so the Commonwealth will be the underdog in the field.
However, despite the least favorite tag in the tournament, the CNMI female strikers vowed to put on a good show in Taiwan.
“We are a very young FA so expectations from us are not high, but we want to make our coach, the NMIFA, our fans and our island proud. Coach Kambe has put so much time and effort into helping us to prepare. I think I speak for the team when I say that we plan to show our appreciation to him by playing hard every minute of every game. We will play to the best of our abilities,” said Davis, who is the team's captain.
This will be Davis and company's first international tournament and they need to stick together to hurdle the big task ahead.
“We haven't even played enough international games to earn a ranking. It would be unrealistic to think that we can beat them, but we can play hard, never give up and do our best to contain them. We have to play smart defense and that means staying organized as a team and playing aggressively in one-on-one situations. We need to make sure we don't let up for 90 minutes. Soccer is a physically demanding sport, but we also have to be mentally prepared to push ourselves beyond what we think is possible,” the team captain added.
On a personal note, Davis said she is excited to play against some of the world-ranked teams in the region.
“I am honored to represent the CNMI at this level. This is an opportunity of a lifetime and we plan to give it everything we've got,” she said.
The CNMI will play its first game in the EAFF tournament against Guam on Aug. 22 and then challenge Hong Kong on Aug. 24. On Aug. 26, the Commonwealth will take on South Korea, while the CNMI's last game will be against host Chinese-Taipei on Aug. 28.
The winner of the nine-day tournament will advance to the championship round to be played in Tokyo, Japan next year. China, Japan, and North Korea have already reserved slots to the championship round.
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