11th Thirsty Cup kicks off today

CEBU, Philippines - The 11th edition of the Thirsty Cup, the country's biggest football festival in terms of participants and number of clubs competing, gets underway at 5:00 this afternoon at the Cebu City Sports Center.

South Korean players under the banner of ERCO-BRO Koreans of coach Glenn Ramos, some commercial stars, the Philippine Youth Under-13 squad, and a host of present and future soccer stars all over the country will vie for prestige and top honors in the three-day tilt.

The Koreans will strut their wares in the men's open, Under-18 and Under-20 categories. They are actually here in town to study the English language at the University of Cebu, but since they play football under one club in South Korea, Ramos suggested that they come early in time for the Thirsty Cup.

Unlike last year though, Ramos will be missing the services of some of the Azkals, the country's national team especially Chieffy Caligdong, who is at the moment on sickbay.

Although no Azkal members are set to join, some players from Global FC are expected to join the battle along with the national Under-13 booters.

All in all, 20 clubs from a dozen cities outside of Cebu will take part in the tournament. The rest of the out-of-town entries include that Les Lions, San Carlos FC, and DCCCO-ARDORE FC all from San Carlos City, Blue Monkey FC, Kachella FC and Silliman FC from Dumaguete, Davao Crocodile, Ladies Knight FC, and Ateneo de Davao of Davao City.

Also joining in are Tubigon FC of Bohol, Andres Bonifacio FC of Dipolog, Xavier Crusaders FC of Cagayan de Oro, PFC, Baybay FC and Visayas State University (VSU) Varsity of Leyte, Talisay Minulu-uan FC of Negros Occidental, Go! Hermie FC of Oroquieta City, and STEFTI FC of Tacloban City.

For this year's edition, the organizers have made some minor changes to make the event more focused and better managed, according to Thirsty Chairman and CEO Bunny Pages.

For one, the tournament will be staged in only one venue, while the number of participants are now limited in each category on a first come, first-served basis.

The categories to be contested are the mixed U7, U9, U11, boys U13, boys and girls U15, U18, and U20, 35-above, and the premiere men's and women's open. (FREEMAN)