SL juniors will not take part in AFC qualifying round
View(s):The Football Federation of Sri Lanka has decided that the Sri Lanka junior team will not take part in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) under 16 qualifications round to be held in Saudi Arabia from September 16 to 29.
The reason for this is that Sri Lanka suffered defeats at the SAFF Under-15 tournament held in Kathmandu, Nepal. In the first round Sri Lanka suffered a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Bangladesh and lost to Bhutan 6-0.
The Sri Lanka junior coach, a Japanese national, has said that the Sri Lanka team is very weak and that the players had suffered a series of injuries and should not take part in the AFC Under-16 competition.
According to the AFC schedule Sri Lanka is to play Bahrain on September 16, against Jordan on Sept. 18, vs Uzbekistan on Sept. 20 and against Saudi Arabia on Sept. 22.
Sri Lanka will correspond with the AFC on Monday or Tuesday and request them to delete Sri Lanka’s name from the competition without a fine, said Umar Jaswar, Secretary to the Football Federation of Sri Lanka, to the Sunday Times.
The SAFF Under-15 final took place in Nepal yesterday where India beat Nepal 3-0. A feature of the competition is that defending champions Bangladesh lost to Nepal in the semi-finals 4-2. - SP