… overseas-based players boost squad
GUYANA’S National Under-17 footballers are rounding up training preparations in this their final week before next week’s second round CFU World Cup Preliminary group competition to be staged in the Dominican Republic. Under the guidance of head coach Sampson Gilbert, twenty-eight players have been encamped at the Diocesan Youth Centre (DYC) in Subryanville since last Friday and tomorrow eight will be eliminated when the 20 players selected to travel will be announced.
Guyana will battle for one of the two spots from the group that also includes Barbados, Haiti and the host nation.
The top two sides from the group will advance to the CONCACAF finals to be played in Jamaica next year February whilst the World Cup U-17 Finals is set for Mexico next summer. 
Since winning their 1st round group competition played in Dominica in July the Guyanese have had no practice game, but coach Gilbert has been holding weekend camps for the City-based players and those in close proximity while the other players were given specific training to work with.
Coach Gilbert added that the squad has been boosted by the inclusion of three Canadian-born players with Guyanese ancestry and that an English-born goalkeeper is expected in the country today to join the squad with a hope of making the team as well.
Midfielders Hamish Ricketts and Khaneil Ceasar, together with forward Jordan Roberts, have all been fitting-in well with the squad since their arrival from Canada, the coach said.
“This is a squad of talented players with the capacity to qualify, like any other team, for the World Cup finals. They are an enthusiastic bunch and very receptive which brings out their competitiveness in training. I think we have a good chance of qualifying for Jamaica,” Gilbert declared.
The training has been hampered by the current weather pattern and there are hopes of playing a practice game at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence, tomorrow against an Under-20 selection from Upper Demerara, Georgetown or East Coast.
The team is scheduled to depart on Sunday for the Dominican Republic where they will begin their campaign against Haiti next Wednesday.