The teams participating in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Under-14 Regional Festival of Football received a warm welcome upon their arrival in Brunei Darussalam.

The Myanmar team was the first to land in the wee hours of Sunday morning while the last teams were scheduled to arrive midnight.

The regional festival will be of significance to the Singapore under-14s as they plan towards shaping a competitive team for the AFC Under-16 qualifiers in 2017.

"If you look ahead next year, this is the age group that will be taking part in the AFC Under-16 qualifiers. This is the first step towards that objective which is to try to qualify," said Singapore under-14 head coach Teng Wei Ken in an interview with the Bulletin yesterday.

The head coach will use the tournament to help select players and form the core team for the AFC Under-16 qualifiers.

"In terms of training, we had some training but most of these boys are schoolboys so the school competitions in Singapore is still going on," he continued.

Ken revealed that there is little luxury of players linking up for national training most of the time but the festival will provide an opportunity to assess his options.

"We don't have them most of the time but it's okay because we are actually using this period just to look at the players to see in terms of talent what we have and then slowly work towards next year," he continued.

The head coach added that the national under-14 team meet up for training once a week since March though they train daily during Singapore's school holidays in June.

The under-14 team has also been involved in a competition in Hong Kong in March which is made up of another group of players.

"We are using these opportunities to look at players to decide who will form the main group for the next AFC qualifiers."

There is another group of players not involved during the regional festival who will also be under consideration for selection in the AFC under-16 qualifiers squad.

The Singapore under-14 team will be closely watched as the players face competition of earning a berth for the AFC Under-16 qualifying team when they climb the age group ladder.

Being a part of the under-16s set-up depends on how well the players perform during the festival.

"The selection process is still ongoing and we have actually not decided the squad that will take part in next year's AFC qualifiers," the Singapore under-14 head coach concluded.

Meanwhile, the Philippines said their participation will allow players to come through the ranks at the birth of their international career and forge a pathway to the under-16s.

"Our preparation for this AFC Under-14 tournament serves as a foundation for coming to the under-16s. This programme is good for us and good exposure for these kids," said Philippines under-14 head coach Emelio Asada Caligdong in an interview with the Bulletin.

"This tournament is good to start for them and the kids are excited to play against our neighbouring countries. We expect everybody to play so this preparation is for next year's tournament for the Under-16s."

The head coach highlighted the team's readiness adding that they are in good condition ahead of the regional meet.

The tournament will enable him to guide the players putting focus on the attitude and character on and off the field.

"These players are very young and we need to teach them the proper way in keeping up with the right attitude on and off the field."

The Philippines under-14 team are mostly made up of new players with only three or four players retained from last year's regional festival also in Brunei.

"I would say 90% are new and we prepared for less than 10 weeks," he said.

There is a selection process dedicated towards choosing players for the under-14 squad during their Festival of Football.

"The Philippines Football Federation (PFF) gave us a programme explaining the selection process. We selected properly the players who possess the potential and we will give them a good chance to play in Brunei."

Caligdong told the players that the festival will mark the start of their international career adding that they will be providing as much guidance and assistance in aiding their development.

He added that Philippines football usually begins at the under 16 level but now the under 14s can benefit from competing at a young age.

The head coach also reiterated the need to guide them in terms of their character in training and in matches before expressing his hopes for the players to step up to the under 16s.

Source:
@BRUDIRECT.COM

by BruDirect.com

If you have any stories or news that you would like to share with the global online community, please feel free to share it with us by contacting us directly at [email protected]