Under-15 footballers gear up for four-nation overseas tournament

Jul 31, 2009 Sports

– leave for Suriname next week

The enthusiastic bunch of footballers, moments before engaging in their final practice match yesterday afternoon

Members of the national Under-15 football squad that were disappointed after the abortion of the Caribbean Football Union tournament, that was scheduled for Trinidad and Tobago, but was cancelled because of the presence of the swine flu in that country, will now get an opportunity to showcase their skills in a four-nation tournament between Suriname, Netherland Antillies, French Guiana and this country, scheduled for neighbouring Suriname from August 7th -11th next.
To this end, 27 players have been encamped at the Cyril Potter College of Education, Turkeyne, ECD, and have been undergoing a stringent training regiment in preparation for the tournament.
The footballers are under the tutelage of Sampson Gilbert, who feels confident that he could transform the side into a winning unit. Gilbert said that a final squad of 18 players would be selected to play for Guyana.
The players have been encamped since July 20 and have so far engaged in several practice matches to augment their rigid training itinerary. To date, the youngsters have had two practice games.
On Sunday last, they engaged an Under-17 side drawn from Sunburst Camptown and won 3-1. They are schedule to play two more practice matches before leaving.
Already, Gilbert has been furnished with the fixtures for the local players. They are scheduled leave Guyana on Wednesday August 5 and play their first game two days later.
The players would be in action once again on August 9th and 11th.
Those called up for training are: Julius Garfield, Devon Charles, Romario James, Jamaal Booker, Jermaine Bamfield, Dickquan Van Couten, Clive Welcome, Shawn Caesar, Mark Walton, Romario Hughes, Rolex Martin, Pernell Schultz, Mark Joseph, Carl Antone, Keyon Ismond, Kison Dey, Mohamed Ali, Deshone Garnett, Domini Garnett, Sherwyn Lewis, Aloysius Edwards, Kenrick Ramsarran, Odinga Carter, Delhoy Matthews, Clinton Adams, Mikel Fraser, Starr Jones and Delon Young .