Visiting Tokyo FA U16 Girls Team win friendly tournament in Guam

24 Mar Visiting Tokyo FA U16 Girls Team win friendly tournament in Guam

[March 24, 2024 – Harmon, Guam] Tokyo Football Association’s U16 Girls team outlasted a field of five youth clubs to win the Tokyo FA Friendlies Tournament, the third of three main events celebrating AFC Women’s Football Day, at the Guam Football Association National Training Center Sunday afternoon.

Tokyo FA emerged with a 4-0 victory over Tumon Typhoons FC in the championship match, with a style and pace of play not commonly seen in Guam at the younger age divisions.

“They passed a lot with accuracy and it was a very fast game,” said Tumon goalkeeper Ahela’aoku’upu’wai “Ahela’a” Kaae after playing five 30-minute matches with her team in the double-elimination tournament to face the Tokyo FA team in the final. “The tournament as a whole was really exciting for us though – for me, I was excited to play together on the same team with a whole bunch of my friends and have an opportunity to go against another club team from another country.

“This was really fun – I feel that this type of event, especially at this age group, will help develop football in Guam overall. So many players want to have better opportunities to play and they’re going to see the opportunities that GFA has given to us like this friendly tournament. They’re going to want to come out and continue to train and play at higher levels,” Kaae added.

In addition to Tumon, four other local U16 girls club teams played in the tournament: ASC Trust Islanders FC, Bank of Guam Strykers FC, Guam Shipyard Wolverines, and NAPA Rovers FC.

The Tokyo FA team will return to GFA Monday afternoon to play in a training match against the Guam U17 Women’s National Select Team, kicking off at 4 p.m.

Kaae will join the select squad to face the visiting team again, she said.

“I look forward to playing the team from Japan again,” Kaae said. “I am looking forward to applying what we learned in today’s match and seeing how much better we can do the second time.”

The friendly tournament was the third of three scheduled events to celebrate AFC Women’s Football Day during the month of March. Earlier this month, GFA presented the 15^th Annual Sugar and Spice Middle School Girls Festival, an event supported by Japan Football Association, and the first of the three celebratory events. On Mar. 17, GFA presented the 10^th edition of the Challenge Cup, Girls High School Football League preseason tournament, another event supported by Japan Football Association and the second of three events in March.