More than 30 players are currently taking part in an intensive training programme at the Serrekunda East Mini-stadium as the national U-17 team prepare for the CAF U-17 Cadet championship in Rwanda in 2011.
The draw for the Rwanda 2011 was held in Rwanda last Saturday, which pitted the reigning champions in the same group against Mali, Congo and Ivory Coast.
Fans are still confident that the Baby Scorpions will retain the title they won in 2005 and 2009.
One man who still remains positive about the two-time African U-17 champions’ chances of retaining the U-17 crown is the technical director of the Gambia Football Association, Kebba Masaneh Ceesay.
Mr Ceesay said that more than 30 players are taking part in the training but was however quick to add that the final selection of the 18-man squad will be done before the team leave for the training camp in Egypt in December.
“We are still undergoing an intensive training programme with over 30 players with a view to strengthening the weak areas before the championship takes centre stage in Rwanda and so far every thing is going as expected,” Ceesay said.
Asked why the technical team is yet to select the final squad, with less than two months before the start of the championship, Ceesay said the technical team had decided to identify few players in a bid to strengthen the weak areas before the team would travel to Rwanda.
Ceesay also used the occasion to reveal plans of engaging the U-17 team in some local test matches with the Zonal selections before finally departing the shores of the country for the big event which runs from 8 to 22 January in Rwanda.
