Cebu Football News: Cebu football player joins RP Under-16

AFTER three Cebuanos were named in the RP team last year, another football player from Cebu City joined the national ranks this year.

Cheska Jane Toledo, the daughter of Cebuano football coach Eleazar Toledo, was recently added to the roster of the RP Under-16 Women’s squad, which is currently competing in the Asian Football Confederation Under-16 Women’s championship qualifier at the Makati University pitch from Oct. 15 to 24.

“She’s the first female Cebu football player that has joined the Philippine team in the girls’ category as far as I know,” Eleazar told Sun.Star Cebu in an interview.

“I’m very proud because my daughter’s dream came true. Her dream was to at least represent the Philippines.”

The Cebu City tryouts were held last August during the opening of the Aboitiz Football Cup at the Aboitiz Sports field, where Cheska was picked to join the national training pool.

Cheska, who turned 15 last May 4, left for Manila last Oct. 2, where she joined the other hopefuls in a closed training camp.

Cheska plays center midfielder for Subangdaku FC but according to Eleazar, she can play other positions. She is currently playing as a central defender for the national team.

Cheska discovered Cebu football from Eleazar, her mentor, when she was six. Aside from that, she’s also into other sports. She was once a gymnast and a volleyball player and has even tried athletics this year.

Here is a Cebu Football video of Cheska in action.

The Philippines lost to Guam, 2-0, in its first game but bounced back with an impressive 7-0 landslide over Timor Leste.

The Philippines will be playing Vietnam tomorrow and Singapore on Sunday.

The Round 1 of the AFC Under-16 Women’s championship qualifiers are divided into two groups, which will be staged in two different venues – Philippines (Group A) and Jordan (Group B). Group A is comprised of the Philippines, Guam, Singapore and Timor Leste while Group B is composed of India, Uzbekistan, Iran, Jordan and Bahrain.

The winners of the two groups will advance to the second round and will be joined by Thailand, Myanmar and Chinese Taipei on Dec. 3 to 12 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The teams will play in a single round robin format, where the winner will join the top five teams of last year’s tournament—Korea Republic, DPR Korea, Japan, Australia and China.

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on October 21, 2010.
Written by Edri K. Aznar.