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Sri Lanka's national soccer team comprising 20 players and four officials are scheduled to leave for a short tour of Thailand on November 5 to play three games and also attend a training stint in preparation for the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Gold Cup Championships to be staged in Karachi, Pakistan from December 7 to 17.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) Chrysantha Perera told the Sunday Observer that the Sri Lankan side will be pitted against the Thailand national side, the Thai under-23 outfit as well as a leading club side on their tour of Thailand next month.

Perera also said that the 38-member national pool are also now in training for the 10th South Asian Games to be staged in Sri Lanka in April next year (2006) where soccer tournament at the Sugathadasa Stadium is scheduled for April 18 to 23. The pool is presently under training in Baddegana under national coach, Sampath Perera, and Lalith Weerasinghe.

"A majority of these players are from Colombo and the outskirts, but there are also players from Galle, Matara, Kandy, Gampola, Matale, Badulla and Anuradhapura districts too. The final squad for the South Asian Games will comprise 15 players", said Perera.

He further said that the Sri Lanka national side is also to tour Singapore and Malaysia in January-February next year (2006) in preparation for the "Games" in Colombo next April.

Perera also disclosed that a 23-member squad (18 players and five officials) are also scheduled to play in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) under-17 Championships at Dhaka, Bangladesh from November 7 to 17.

He further said that Sri Lanka will make a determined bid to host the AFC's under-20 Youth Championships (qualifying) in Colombo in January-February next year (2006). A meeting of the AFC's Executive Committee is to be held on December 1 with Manilal Fernando, the local soccer supreme, who is also a Vice-President of AFC, representing Sri Lanka to make the bid. Sri Lanka are in Group 'G' together with Australia and Kazakhastan.

L.G.

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