BY ROMULUS HUTA
THE national under-16 soccer head coach Stanley Waita eyes 25 players for the training squad after holding the trials this week.
Speaking to SunSPORTS yesterday, Waita said the turn out for the trials this week appears very good.
The trials which began on Monday at Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) Academy will run throughout the whole week until Sunday.
“At the moment trials are on for players that have been selected from the Under-16 Solomon Cup and an open trial will be on Saturday and Sunday for those who don’t have the chance to play in the Solomon cup,” Waita explained.
Waita added players from Western Province are supposed to join to join the trials by yesterday.
“As soon the 25 players are named, trainings will kick off straight away.
“The final squad of 23 players will be named later.”
The national under-16 side will participate in year’s Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) Under-16 Championship.
Honiara will play host to the regional junior qualifiers from September 8 to 22.
The two top teams emerging from the championship will qualify into next year’s FIFA Under-17 World Cup in Peru.
Waita said plans aimed at strengthening the depth of the youth side are underway where they are looking at organising friendly matches but that is yet to be confirmed.
The head coach further adds that as soon as the trials are over then they will name the 25-man training squad.
The training squad will be put together with the help of SIFF technical department officials which is headed by the Technical Director and Spaniard Felipe Vega Arango Alonso.
