It will be a busy summer for the Philippine Under 14 football team also known as the Little Azkals as they prepare for three international exposures in Italy, Malaysia and Japan.
The Little Azkals started their training camp at the Don Bosco Boys Home in Liloan last weekend and will end on April 15.
First up for the Little Azkals will be the friendly tournaments in Italy, where they will also be having a training camp courtesy of the football academy Scuola Calcio Giacomo Tedesco in Palermo, Italy, through its director general Nicolo Ferrante.
They will be leaving on the second week of April and return in May, where they will resume the final phase of training in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental, for the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-14 Festival of Football in Sabah, Malaysia from May 28 to June 4.
Of the 30 chosen to the training camp, only 22 were selected to go to Italy. The rest will return to their respective places but were instructed to continue their training because they still have a chance to be in the official lineup for the Malaysian tournament.
After Malaysia, the Little Azkals will be given a three-day rest before returning to training in preparation for an invitational tournament in Japan from June 17 to 24.
Colina said that if the Malaysian lineup performs well, the same lineup will be used for Japan. If not, they might replace some of the players from those who were left behind.
As part of their intensive training in Liloan, friendly tournaments were also lined up for them against Don Bosco U16, Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu U14 and U16, Central Visayas teams of coach Joselito Bono and Glen Ramos, who will be competing in the upcoming Palarong Pambansa in Pangasinan.