Under-17 footballers picked for training

TWENTY FIVE aspiring national Under-17 players have been shortlisted for the start of official training on January 10 at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo. At that time, a squad of 40 will begin preparations for the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) leg of the FIFA Under-17 World Championship qualifiers. But, according to recently-appointed coach Nigel Grovesnor, an additional screening session will be conducted on January 3 due to the absence of a number of players from yesterday’s programme, which also took place at the Mucurapo venue.

“Things went good,” said Grovesnor, who was also coach of the 2002 and 2003 national schools football champs St Anthony’s College. “But a few people did not turn up since they were unaware of the venue and the time,” he added. Grovesnor, as well as manager Winston St Clair, assistant coach Sean De Four and trainer Ricardo Stevenson, will choose 15 additional players after the January 3 session to form a full complement of 40. Sessions were held last week in various parts of Trinidad and sister isle Tobago to select players for the team. The CFU qualifiers will be held from September 15-December 17 2004 while the World Championships will be staged in Peru the following year.