With just days to go before Guyana hosts the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Futsal Football tournament, the local football governing body has reduced the squad to 16 players from which the final 12 players will be named.
Former national under-20 goalkeeper, Andrew Reading, who is based in England and three members of the current national senior squad – the Golden Jaguars, Konata Mannings, Shawn Bishop and Cary Harris, have been named in the squad released by the Guyana Football Federation (GFF).
The CFU Futsal tournament is expected to kick off on Wednesday at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall bringing together six countries including Guyana.
The six-team Caribbean tournament will qualify two squads to the 2008 CONCACAF Futsal Championship.
Group A will comprise Guyana, Haiti and St Maarten while Group B consists of Puerto Rico, Suriname and Trinidad & Tobago.
The two Caribbean qualifiers will join Costa Rica, Cuba, Mexico, Panama, USA and the host, Guatemala at the 2008 CONCACAF Futsal Championship at the Domo Polideportivo in Guatemala City from 2-8 June.
The CONCACAF Champ-ionship will also progress three teams to the 2008 FIFA Futsal World Cup in Brazil from 1-19 October.
Guyana will play St. Maarten, opening their campaign in the feature match of a double header card at 20:00h next Wednesday. Trinidad and Tobago willcome up against Puerto Rico in the first match at 18:00 h.
On Match 6, Haiti will tackle St. Maarten and Puerto Rico will oppose Suriname, while on March 7 Guyana will take on Haiti and Suriname play Trinidad and Tobago in the final round of preliminary games.
The visiting teams are expected to begin arriving in Guyana tomorrow.
CONCACAF also named 10 referees to officiate in the tournament , they are from (Costa Rica ) Jorge Antonio Fernandez and Victor Prenadas ; (Cuba) Antonio Alvarez and Ricardo Lage ; (Guatemala) Carlos Del Cid and Nelson Norales; (Panama) Ricardo Diaz and Elix Peraltz; and from the USA Shane Butler and Feliciano Palomino.
GFF Public Relations officer Frederick Granger disclosed that the local squad will be encamped at Palace de Leon Hotel in Kitty.
The squad is training twice daily at the
Sports Hall with Joseph Wilson serving as head coach, with Gavin Brown and Ron Austin as assistant coaches. No manager was named.
The 16 players named are: Llyton Rams and Sceyon Hope of Mocha Champs, Mannings and Shemroy Arthur of Pele, Lester Peters and Gerald Grittens of Fruta Conquerors, Bishop of Alpha United, Travis Grant and Andy Duke of Santos, Stellon David and Eusi Phillips of the Guyana Defence Force, John Waldron of Silver Shattas, Delroy Dean of BV/ Triumph United and Carey Harris Joe Public of Trinidad and Tobago and Reading.
