Top-caliber collegiate soccer action unfolds in Bacolod City starting May 19, when the 1st Carlos O. Cojuangco National Collegiate Invitational Football opens at the Panaad Stadium football pitch.

Champion teams from four Visayas and Mindanao schools are participating in the invitational that will be played both at the Panaad and Bago City from May 19-25.

Contesting the title are four-time undefeated UniGames national champion University of St. La Salle; top Iloilo college team Central Philippine University; 2004 UniGames champion University of Mindanao, and currently No. 1 college football squad in Negros Oriental, Foundation University.

Priming themselves for the football showdown, the teams have started their preparations with the USLS squad undergoing a two-week football camp under the watchful eyes of their veteran mentor Nene Lazarito.

“The team is in top shape and all of the guys are doing okay during training,” Lazarito said.

Determined to give the home teams a high-level competition for the crown, FU has also started intensifying its training with coach Andy Mananquil.

The team is now in a month-long football camp and will be ready for a higher level of play when the tournament unfolds on May 19, Mananquil said.

CPU, according to delegation head Ed Hortelano, has been practicing for the last two months, holding practice matches with the different clubs in Iloilo. “We are really prepared for Bacolod,” he said.

“We’re also very ready,” Joaquin Sarabia, sports director of the UM in Davao said. He said the team has been undergoing its regular training and they look forward to a good quality performance during the tournament.

The tournament is being organized by the COC Foundation, Inc. with the cooperation of the Negros Occidental Football Association Inc.*

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