The Central Visayas Regional Football Association will test the international waters for the first time as it sends its first delegation to the Garuda International Football Cup in Indonesia on June 30 to July 3.
The U17 division of the prestigions tournament will have 32 teams from Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia with CVFA as the lone representative from the Philippines.
The team, managed by CVFA director Alvin Roxas, is coached by Glen Ramos and has been training for the past few weeks. They’ve also played a series of friendlies with older squads to prepare for their first international stint.
The members of the squad are Jacob Almendras, Jared Almendras, Fritz Amazona, Liam Cergneux, John Conde, Gianrenzo Custado, Aaron Dionaldo, Joseph Kyne Garces, Nathan Lingatong, Eugene Molleno,
Edgar Paredes III, Carsten Pumareja, John Rondrique, Ethan Roxas
James Rufin, Lucas Sarmiento, Mariano Sian and Marcus Whysall.
According to Ramos, eight members of the U17 squad also played for the CVFA U19 squad that recently won the Visayas eliminations. On the other hand, Roxas and Sarmiento played for Springdale Titans in a U10 tournament in Singapore where they finished second with Roxas earning the MVP honors for his impressive play.