TT defenders target Osama

TRINIDAD and Tobago defender Marvin Andrews and his colleagues will be on  the look out for Egyptian star striker Osama Hosny when the teams meet in their international friendly in Cairo on Wednesday. But Hosny who plays for Al Ahly in the Egypt Football League, is one of the country’s  most promising players and will be hoping to put on a good show to catch the eye of newly appointed coach Marco Tardelli. The nine-member squad which left here on Saturday was expected to be joined by nine England-based players yesterday before flying out to Cairo. Coach Bertille St Clair will be using Wednesday’s game as the start of preparations for World Cup Germany 2006.

But the friendly against Iraq on May 23 has been grabbing headlines in the UK press over the past week after organizers AKB media and founder Yamam Nabeel announced that the Iraqi national football team will tour England for the first time in their history in the UK Goodwill Tour. Through his television production company AKB Media, Nabeel a former footballer has been able to plan his ambitious project, which has been officially endorsed by FIFA vice-president Jack Austin Warner, UK’s special representatives in Iraq Sir Jeremy Greenstock, MP Richard Caborn, the Minister for Sport in the UK, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. As well as providing Iraq with warm-up matches before the Asian Cup in China in July, the organisers also hope to help raise money through commercial deals for the Iraqi FA.