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Friday, March 29, 2024

Bukidnon wins 1st Mindanao Cup

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Squeezing out the best from its key players, the Bukidnon Football Association captured the first-ever Mindanao Cup by defeating Davao South Regional FA White, 4-0, in the finals held recently at the Tionko Field in Davao City.

Members of the Bukidnon team, with PSC’s Atty. Guillermo Iroy. Jonard Tan

Apart from booking a trip to the Luzon Cup in Tarlac late next month, they will bring home P30,000 worth of football equipment from grassroots football godfather Ricky Yanson, the Negros Occidental Football Association president who organized the tournament that followed a nine-a-side format.

Striker Kurbe Dairo of Our Lady of Lourdes Elementary School issued a pair of superb assists and capped his game-long brilliance with a long-range rocket that guaranteed victory in the 40th minute.

Also representing the Bukidnon squad were players from Manolo Fortich Central School, Plantation Elementary School in Camp Philips and Del Monte School aside from OLLES.

Organized by the Davao South Regional Football Association and NOFA, the Mindanao Cup is a spin-off of the highly successful NOFA Invitational Cup in Bacolod City, an annual age-group tourney since 2016.

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According to NOFA president Ricky Yanson, the objective of the Mindanao Cup is to find hidden gems, who can someday play for the national football team.

"Our goal is to develop young Filipino talents who can hopefully play for our national team in the future,’’ said Yanson, who partnered with DSRFA president Engr. Henry Sabate to stage the tournament.

Dairo navigated through the mayhem and found striker Cade Sanchez of Del Monte School as they broke a scoreless encounter in the 37th minute.

A minute later, Dairo sailed a pass from the corner to midfielder Prince Aseniero of Plantation Elementary School as he scored a one-touch goal at the center without nobody there to stop him.

Sanchez sealed the fate of their rivals with another rocket in the 47th minute as the Bukidnon boys effectively fended off attacks from Davao White’s Anthony Elorde, Carlos Donado and Mohammad Abutazil.

Frustrating the host team was the stonewall defense built by Jim Fabela, Adriel Algador and goalkeeper Jun Melig.

Bukidnon almost swept the individual awards with Dairo capturing the MVP award, Melig named as Best Goalkeeper, Algador Best Defender and Aseniero Best Midfielder. 

Jedd Gabriel Ceballos of Mt. Apo RFA was adjudged Best Striker after scoring a total of 14 goal in the entire tournament. Davao South RFA Red and Mt. Apo RFA wound up third and fourth, respectively, in the competition for boys 11 years old and below.

The participating teams were Agusan del Sur FA, Bukidnon FA, Central Butuan District 1 Football Team of Butuan-Agusan del Norte FA, CdeO—Little Me Academy FC of Cagayan de Oro-Misamis Oriental FA, Camp Kalaw Football Club of Golden Davao RFA, DavNor RFA, Davao Lola Mommy’s (White) and Davao Lola Mommy’s (Red) of Davao South RFA, Iligan City Football Academy of Iligan-Lanao del Norte-Lanao del Sur RFA, MRFA Sultan Jolongs FC of Maguindanao RFA, SOCSARGEN RFA of South Cotabato—Sarangani—General Santos RFA, Team MARFA of Mount Apo RFA, SWAT FC of Sultan Kudarat FA, Surigao United of Surigao del Norte and Dinagat Islands RFA, ZANDIFA—Dipolog of Zamboanga del Norte—Dipolog FA, and Sta. Lucia Jumbos of Zamboanga del Sur – Pagadian FA.

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