Mindanaotoday.com | Caiña accepts CMORFA National U19 challenge
YOUNG coach Ivan Caiña has accepted another challenge given to him by Camiguin Misamis Oriental Football Association (CMORFA) president Mike Batiles to coach the CMORFA U19 Men’s football team for the coming National U19 Division 1 Championship.
Caiña brought honors to the Cagayan de Oro community last year when he led the CMORFA U19 team to the title in the National U19 Division 2 Championship in Zamboanga City.
He stepped down as head coach after the tournament but upon the request of Mike Batiles, he changed his mind and has started preparing the current squad to the elimination tournament in Cebu City this month.
“I initially stepped down as head coach for the U19 selection team because I wanted to serve as RFA’s technical director in order to help not only the U19 team but to create programs and technical guideline to help the age groups of CMORFA,” he said.
Caiña has started preparing the squad since his appointment last month. They have picked young players from the different Cluster areas of the CMORFA and shortlisted the best players from them.
Caiña has retained four players from last year’s line-up but he has not finalized the lineup yet yet as he is still waiting for the approval of the two Manila based teams they are eyeing to play for CMORFA.
“The team is very different from last year since the open trials were restricted due to the pandemic. This year more than 60 players showed up for our two day open trials,’’ he said.
He also added that last year’s team and this year’s team are both fantastic. “We only got the best players from each Clusters in our two two-legged trials.’’
CMORFA will play against Panay FA, Central Visayas FA, SOCCSKSARGEN, South Davao RFA and Zamboanga del Norte, Dipolog Regional Football Association (ZANDIFA) in a cluster elimination tournament to determine which team will play in the National finals.
Coach Ivan Caiña is a young coach but brilliant coach. He will face a tough job in this coming competition as they will face the big boys of Philippine football in the Division 1 tournament.
He however, does not avoid challenges and will always meet them head one. We just hope we will succeed again this time to bring honor the the Cagayan de Oro, and Misamis Oriental football community. (jackbiantantambok@gmail.com)
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